Generalist Versus Specialist CEOs and the Scope of Corporate Social Responsibility

Qian Lu (), Guoguang Wan () and Liang Xu ()
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Qian Lu: Nanjing University of Science & Technology
Guoguang Wan: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Liang Xu: SKEMA Business School

Journal of Business Ethics, 2025, vol. 197, issue 1, No 8, 143-158

Abstract: Abstract This study explored how the nature of CEOs’ human capital affects the scope of their firms’ corporate social responsibility initiatives. By integrating upper echelons theory with the attention-based view of the firm, the analyses showed that generalist CEOs with a broader range of knowledge and skills tend to aim their firms’ corporate social responsibility efforts toward a broader range of responsibility domains than do specialist CEOs with a narrower range of knowledge and skills. The difference is weaker when a firm’s board has a sustainability committee or when industry peers are active in a broad range of corporate social responsibility domains. These findings are supported by data on S&P 1500 firms spanning 2000 to 2018.

Keywords: Generalist CEOs; Specialist CEOs; Corporate social responsibility scope; Sustainability committees; Peers’ corporate social responsibility scope (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05733-9

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