CEO Humility and Firm Reputation in China: The Mediating Role of Organizational Virtuousness and Government Intermediary Connection as a Boundary Condition

Fangmei Lu, Shuyang You and Liangding Jia

Management and Organization Review, 2025, vol. 21, issue 3, 483-512

Abstract: We theorize on how and when CEO humility positively shapes stakeholders’ evaluations of a firm. We posit that CEO humility has a positive effect on organizational virtuousness and, hence, on firm reputation in the eyes of the government in China when the firm is intensively connected to government intermediaries. Data for this study were collected from a large-scale on-site survey and archives of 195 firms in 32 Chinese industrial towns. Our 1,099 respondents included 975 top managers and 124 local government officers. Empirical analysis results support our theory. We also complemented our quantitative findings with qualitative evidence. We offer a new perspective for understanding humble CEOs’ influence and condition in shaping their firms’ reputational judgments.

Date: 2025
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