Date of Conferral

12-15-2025

Date of Award

December 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Paul Frankenhauser

Abstract

Benefit corporations exist to benefit society and generate profit for shareholders and stakeholders, but there is evidence that greenwashing is prevalent among these entities. Business leaders need to understand the extent to which a shareholder primacy mindset influences the collective top management team and drives greenwashing in benefit corporations. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine the relationship between the collective demographic characteristics of top management teams and a shareholder primacy mindset, and to assess the relationship between a shareholder primacy mindset in the top management team of a benefit corporation and greenwashing behavior. Upper echelons theory and organizational inertia theory grounded this study. Random sampling comprised N = 68 benefit corporations. Public top management team demographic data, published sustainability scores, and secondary archival data, including sustainability reports and other information published on the corporation’s websites, were collected for analysis. The regression results indicated that shareholder primacy was a statistically significant predictor of weighted legitimacy, F(1, 66) = 2250.34, p < .001. The key findings were that no relationship exists between the collective demographic characteristics of the top management team in benefit corporations and a shareholder primacy mindset. A relationship exists between a shareholder primacy mindset and greenwashing behavior in top management teams. Understanding these relationships can help organizations operate to benefit consumers, investors, employees, and communities. The implications for positive social change include the potential for corporate leaders to inform the business community and governing bodies to address greenwashing concerns.

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