| Peer-Reviewed

Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms

Received: 13 May 2019     Published: 29 July 2019
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

This study investigates the influence of a CEO’s level of education on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of listed firms in China. We find a significant and positive impact of the CEO’s level of education on the CSR of a firm, one level promotion of CEOs' education will increase 0.1630 CSR scores of a firm and increase the probability of CSR disclosure by 10.75%. This finding is robust for the univariable analysis and for sub-items and the forward performance of CSR. Further, we find that the positive relationship between the CEO’s level of education and CSR is more pronounced for CEOs who also chair the board, state-owned firms and CEOs who have overseas experience. More concretely, when the CEO is also the chairman, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on CSR than those are not chairman. In state-owned enterprises, the CEO’s level of education plays a greater role in the positive promotion of the CSR than non-stated-owned enterprises. When the CEO has studied or worked abroad, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on the CSR than those who do not have overseas experience. Our findings shed light on the role of the CEO’s level of education in CSR, and our research on Chinese listed companies enriches the relevant research on CSR in developing countries.

Published in International Journal of Business and Economics Research (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18
Page(s) 232-244
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Corporate Social Responsibility, CEO’s Level of Education, CEO Duality, State Ownership, Overseas Experience

References
[1] Campbell, J. L. Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Acad. Manag. Rev. 2007, 32: 946–967.
[2] Chapple, W.; Moon, J. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia: A Seven-Country Study of CSR Web Site Reporting. Bus. Soc. 2005, 44: 415–441.
[3] Jones, T. M.; Wicks, A. C. Convergent stakeholder theory. Acad. Manag. Rev. 1999, 24: 206–221.
[4] Orlitzky, M.; Schmidt, F. L.; Rynes, S. L. Corporate social and financial performance: A meta-analysis. Toward Integrative Corporate Citizenship; Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK, 2008.
[5] Donaldson, T.; Dunfee, T. W. Ties that bind in business ethics: Social contracts and why they matter. J. Bank. Financ. 2002, 26: 1853–1865.
[6] Carroll, A. B. A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Acad. Manag. Rev. 1979, 4: 497–505.
[7] Wood D. J. Corporate Social Performance Revisited [J]. Academy of Management Review, 1991, 16 (4): 691-718.
[8] Sheldon O. The philosophy of management. M. Eastsussexs. Psychology Press, 2003: 55-57.
[9] Davis, K. The case for and against business assumption of social responsibilities. Acad. Manag. J. 1973, 16: 312–322.
[10] Mcwilliams, A.; Siegel, D. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Acad. Manag. Rev. 2001, 26: 117–127.
[11] Schneiberg, M. Political and Institutional Conditions for Governance by Association: Private Order and Price Controls in American Fire Insurance. Politics Soc. 1999, 27: 67–103.
[12] Friedman, Milton. The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. J. New York Times Magazine, 2007, 13: 173-178.
[13] Jensen, M. C. Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. J. Appl. Corp. Financ. 2010, 22: 11.
[14] Zu, L.; Song, L. Determinants of managerial values on corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China. J. Bus. Ethics 2009, 88: 105–117.
[15] Khan, A. Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from an emerging economy. J. Bus. Ethics 2013, 114: 207–223.
[16] Sanders, G. Behavioral responses of CEOs to stock ownership and stock option pay. Acad. Manag. J. 2001, 44: 477–492.
[17] Marz; Joachim W., T. L. Powers, and T. Queisser. Corporate and Individual Influences on Managers' Social Orientation. J. Journal of Business Ethics, 2003, 46: 1-11.
[18] Greening, D. W.; Gray, B. A. Testing a model of organizational response to social and political issues. Acad. Manag. J. 1994, 37: 467–498.
[19] Ramus, C. A.; Steger, U. The roles of supervisory support behaviors and environmental policy in employee “ecoinitiatives” at leading-edge European companies. Acad. Manag. J. 2000, 43: 605–626.
[20] Daboub, A. J.; Rasheed, A. M. A.; Gray, P. D. A. Top management team characteristics and corporate illegal activity. Acad. Manag. Rev. 1995, 20: 138–170.
[21] Deckop, J. R.; Merriman, K. K.; Gupta, S. The Effects of CEO Pay Structure on Corporate Social Performance. J. Manag. 2006, 32: 329–342.
[22] Dutton, J. E.; Duncan, R. B. The creation of momentum for change through the process of strategic issue diagnosis. Strateg. Manag. J. 1987, 8: 17.
[23] Aguinis, H.; Glavas, A. What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. J. Manag. 2012, 38: 932–968.
[24] Hambrick, D. C.; Mason, P. A. Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Acad. Manag. Rev. 1984, 9: 193–206.
[25] Thomas; Simerly, R. L. Internal determinants of corporate social performance: The role. of top managers. J. Academy of Management Proccedings, 1995, 2: 411-415
[26] Wiersema; Margarethe F.; K. A. Bantel. Top management team demography and corporate strategic change. J. Academy of Management Journal. 1992, 35: 91-121.
[27] Oh, W. Y.; Chang, Y. K.; Martynov, A. The effect of ownership structure on corporate social responsibility: Empirical evidence from Korea. J. Bus. Ethics 2011, 104: 283–297.
[28] Gao yongqiang; Chen yajing; zhang yunjun. "red scarf" or "green scarf": a study on charitable donation motivation of private enterprises. J. World management.2012, 8: 106-114.
[29] Goins S.; Gruca T. S. Understanding Competitive and Contagion Effects of Layoff Announcements. J. Corporate Reputation Review.2008, 11: 12-34.
[30] Haniffa, R. M.; Cooke, T. E. The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting. J. Account. Public Policy 2005, 24: 391–430.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Yiming Ma, Juncheng Li, Lu Yang, Yafeng Hu, Ke Gao. (2019). Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms. International Journal of Business and Economics Research, 8(4), 232-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Yiming Ma; Juncheng Li; Lu Yang; Yafeng Hu; Ke Gao. Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms. Int. J. Bus. Econ. Res. 2019, 8(4), 232-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Yiming Ma, Juncheng Li, Lu Yang, Yafeng Hu, Ke Gao. Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms. Int J Bus Econ Res. 2019;8(4):232-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18,
      author = {Yiming Ma and Juncheng Li and Lu Yang and Yafeng Hu and Ke Gao},
      title = {Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms},
      journal = {International Journal of Business and Economics Research},
      volume = {8},
      number = {4},
      pages = {232-244},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijber.20190804.18},
      abstract = {This study investigates the influence of a CEO’s level of education on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of listed firms in China. We find a significant and positive impact of the CEO’s level of education on the CSR of a firm, one level promotion of CEOs' education will increase 0.1630 CSR scores of a firm and increase the probability of CSR disclosure by 10.75%. This finding is robust for the univariable analysis and for sub-items and the forward performance of CSR. Further, we find that the positive relationship between the CEO’s level of education and CSR is more pronounced for CEOs who also chair the board, state-owned firms and CEOs who have overseas experience. More concretely, when the CEO is also the chairman, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on CSR than those are not chairman. In state-owned enterprises, the CEO’s level of education plays a greater role in the positive promotion of the CSR than non-stated-owned enterprises. When the CEO has studied or worked abroad, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on the CSR than those who do not have overseas experience. Our findings shed light on the role of the CEO’s level of education in CSR, and our research on Chinese listed companies enriches the relevant research on CSR in developing countries.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Relationship Between a CEO’s Level of Education and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms
    AU  - Yiming Ma
    AU  - Juncheng Li
    AU  - Lu Yang
    AU  - Yafeng Hu
    AU  - Ke Gao
    Y1  - 2019/07/29
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18
    T2  - International Journal of Business and Economics Research
    JF  - International Journal of Business and Economics Research
    JO  - International Journal of Business and Economics Research
    SP  - 232
    EP  - 244
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-756X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18
    AB  - This study investigates the influence of a CEO’s level of education on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of listed firms in China. We find a significant and positive impact of the CEO’s level of education on the CSR of a firm, one level promotion of CEOs' education will increase 0.1630 CSR scores of a firm and increase the probability of CSR disclosure by 10.75%. This finding is robust for the univariable analysis and for sub-items and the forward performance of CSR. Further, we find that the positive relationship between the CEO’s level of education and CSR is more pronounced for CEOs who also chair the board, state-owned firms and CEOs who have overseas experience. More concretely, when the CEO is also the chairman, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on CSR than those are not chairman. In state-owned enterprises, the CEO’s level of education plays a greater role in the positive promotion of the CSR than non-stated-owned enterprises. When the CEO has studied or worked abroad, the CEO’s level of education has a greater positive effect on the CSR than those who do not have overseas experience. Our findings shed light on the role of the CEO’s level of education in CSR, and our research on Chinese listed companies enriches the relevant research on CSR in developing countries.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Chinese Academy of Finance and Development, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, P. R. China

  • School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, P. R. China

  • School of Economics, Qingdao University, Qingdao, P. R. China

  • China Academy of Public Finance and Public Policy, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, P. R. China

  • Development Research Center of Shandong Provincial People’s Government, Jinan, P. R. China

  • Sections