CEO Greed, Corporate Governance, and CSR Performance: Asian Evidence

Saif Ur Rehman () and Yacoub Haider Hamdan
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Saif Ur Rehman: Faculty of Management, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates
Yacoub Haider Hamdan: Business School, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman 19328, Jordan

Administrative Sciences, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-29

Abstract: In this study, we examined the association between CEO greed and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance with a particular emphasis on the curtailing role of corporate governance. We found that CEO greed has a negative effect on CSR, since an uncontrolled pursuit of personal gain typically reveals myopic behavior and the foregoing of investment in CSR by a greedy CEO. Additionally, we found that CEO compensation in the form of large bonuses, support, and restricted stocks options weakened the link between CEO greed and CSR. Concerning the power dynamics amongst CEOs (CEO duality and tenure), we found that CEO duality moderates the negative relation between CEO greed and CSR. We also explored the curtailing role of corporate governance (proxies represented by board gender diversity and board independence) in the association between CEO greed and CSR. Our findings show that gender diversity curtails the negative effect of CEO greed on CSR once it reaches critical mass on the corporate board. Gender critical mass also curtails the negative impact of CEO greed on CSR, even if the CEO exercises duality. Our findings have empirical and practical implications. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationship between CEO greed and CSR in Asia, a region not renowned for CSR performance. This study also provides evidence for the curtailing role of compensation and governance factors in the negative relationship between CEO greed and CSR.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; upper-echelon theory; CEO compensation; CEO power dynamics; board oversight; Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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