CEOs’ Poverty Experience and Corporate Social Responsibility: Are CEOs Who Have Experienced Poverty More Generous?

Shan Xu () and Panyi Ma ()
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Shan Xu: South China University of Technology
Panyi Ma: South China University of Technology

Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, vol. 180, issue 2, No 19, 747-776

Abstract: Abstract This study examines whether the chief executive officer’s (CEO’s) poverty experience has an impact on firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR). We find that firms’ CSR performance increases with CEOs’ poverty experience; specifically, firms with CEOs who experienced early-life poverty are associated with more socially responsible activities and fewer socially irresponsible activities, such as on-the-job consumption, and are more associated with key stakeholder-related rather than community-related CSR. We further find that the positive relationship between the CEO’s poverty experience and CSR strengthens for well-educated or powerful CEOs. Our evidence is consistent with our conjecture that CEOs who experienced early-life poverty have stronger compassion and prosocial psychology. Consequently, these CEOs are more willing to make long-term investments in socially beneficial activities, leading to better CSR performance, which further confirms the altruistic motivation of CSR.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; CEOs’ poverty experience; CEO power; Upper echelons theory; CSR dimensions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 M12 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04899-w

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