CEOs’ career horizon and CSR reputation of firms-evidence from India
Arpita Agnihotri, Saurabh BhattacharyaPurpose
This study aims to examine how CEOs’ career horizons influence media coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and, consequently, firms’ CSR reputations in emerging markets. The authors investigate how CEOs’ perceived altruistic versus economic motives shape media tone and explore boundary conditions that affect this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Leveraging attribution theory and upper-echelon theory, they hypothesise that shorter career-horizon CEOs are perceived as more altruistically motivated, leading to more positive media coverage. Using instrumental variable regression, they analyse six years of data from 276 Indian manufacturing firms (1,656 firm-year observations) to test the direct and moderating effects of financial slack and CEOs’ future temporal focus on CSR reputation.
Findings
Results indicate that shorter career-horizon CEOs receive more positive CSR media coverage, thereby enhancing firm CSR reputation. Financial slack and future temporal focus significantly moderate this relationship: high slack and high future temporal focus attenuate the negative impact of longer career horizons on CSR reputation.
Originality/value
This study advances CSR and upper-echelon research by showing that perceived CEO traits, especially career horizon, shape stakeholders’ judgements of CSR motives. It underscores the media’s influence on CSR reputation and clarifies how CEO behaviour and firm reputations are shaped in resource-limited emerging markets.