CEO power and corporate social responsibility

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) power on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use regression analysis to investigate the research question.

Findings

Using a 23-year panel sample with 1,574 unique US firms and 8,575 firm-year observations, the authors find a significant and negative relation between CEO power and CSR, suggesting that firms with more powerful CEOs engage in less CSR activities.

Originality/value

The results reveal that more powerful CEOs become less responsive to the needs of stakeholder groups, confirming the validity of the stakeholder theory of CSR.

Citation

Harper, J. and Sun, L. (2019), "CEO power and corporate social responsibility", American Journal of Business, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJB-10-2018-0058