CEO career concerns and ESG investments

Kihun Kim and Tae-Nyun Kim

Finance Research Letters, 2023, vol. 55, issue PA

Abstract: This paper examines whether CEO (Chief Executive Officer) career concerns affect ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investments and finds a positive relationship between them. More specifically, we find empirical evidence that CEOs with shorter tenure, more outside opportunities, and more long-term oriented compensation structure are more likely to invest in ESG investments as they have greater career concerns. Furthermore, we find that this positive relationship between CEO career concerns and ESG investments is less evident in overpaid CEOs or states that adopt Corporate Opportunity Waivers (COW) law. These results indicate that extrinsic motivation can affect ESG investments when CEOs face significant career concerns.

Keywords: CEO career concerns; ESG investments; CEO tenure; Outside opportunities; Long-term compensation; CEO pay; Extrinsic motivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:55:y:2023:i:pa:s1544612323001927

DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.103819

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