The Historical Roots of Opportunistic Sales: Evidence from CEOs’ Great Famine Experience

Chun Tang, Lei Tan and Xiaoxing Liu

Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 2025, vol. 61, issue 12, 3767-3784

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of CEOs’ childhood experience of the Great Famine on opportunistic sales behavior. We find that, CEOs’ early famine experience significantly induces opportunistic sales during their tenure. The potential impact mechanism is that the famine experience formed a materialistic imprint, driving CEOs to pursue personal interests. Further research indicates when the CEOs’ subsequent experiences do not match the imprint of materialism, such as being influenced by military experiences and Confucian culture that emphasize altruism, opportunistic tendencies will be significantly suppressed, and on the contrary, this tendency will be strengthened. Besides, the impact of famine experience is more prominent for companies with lower regulatory, institutional, and internal constraints. This paper explores the historical roots behind the continuous wave of opportunistic sales in the Chinese capital market, enriching the imprinting theory.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/1540496X.2025.2489003

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