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The past is never dead: Famine-CEOs and corporate social performance

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Shams PathanORCiD

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Abstract

© 2023 Elsevier Inc. Using CEOs' exposure to the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961) as a measure of early-life trauma in their life (termed, famine-CEOs), we find that firms led by famine-CEOs are associated with lower corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Our findings of myriad tests are consistent with the egoism proposition that early-life traumatic experience of human-induced suffering adversely impacts CEOs' social initiatives and willingness to engage in social practices. We also note that the adverse impact of famine-CEOs on CSR is mitigated by CEOs' hometown connection and government ownership while magnified by CEO power. Our results are robust to various econometric methods, alternative explanations, and approaches to address endogeneity concerns such as two-stage least squares, propensity score matching, and the Lewbel procedure. This study shows the importance of considering the influences of CEO early-life experience on non-financial decisions.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Fang X, Khoo J, Luo T, Pathan S, Wang H

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Global Finance Journal

Year: 2023

Volume: 56

Print publication date: 01/05/2023

Online publication date: 02/03/2023

Acceptance date: 26/02/2023

ISSN (print): 1044-0283

ISSN (electronic): 1873-5665

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfj.2023.100826

DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2023.100826


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