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

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  • Shan Xu

    (South China University of Technology)

  • Panyi Ma

    (South China University of Technology)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Shan Xu & Panyi Ma, 2022. "CEOs’ Poverty Experience and Corporate Social Responsibility: Are CEOs Who Have Experienced Poverty More Generous?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 747-776, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:180:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04899-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04899-w
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    Cited by:

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    4. Xu, Si & He, Xiaoyi & Xiong, Feng & Chen, Peiyao, 2024. "CEOs’ early-life famine experience and corporate donations: Evidence from the great Chinese famine," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Yang Liu & Han Zhang & Fukang Zhang, 2024. "The power of CEO growing up in poverty: Enabling better corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1610-1633, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate social responsibility; CEOs’ poverty experience; CEO power; Upper echelons theory; CSR dimensions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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