IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v111y2020icp69-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Celebrity CEO, identity threat, and impression management: Impact of celebrity status on corporate social responsibility

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Gilsoo
  • Cho, Sam Yul
  • Arthurs, Jonathan
  • Lee, Eun Kyung

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impact of CEO celebrity status on the propensity of firms to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Integrating identity and impression management theories, we argue that a firm’s engagement in CSR activities is affected by a celebrity CEO’s impression management motive to maintain his/her identity and status as a celebrity. We then explore three boundary conditions under which the effects of celebrity status on CSR may be strengthened. We find that celebrity CEOs’ engagement in CSR activities as an impression management tactic increases when uncertainty surrounding a firm’s expected performance is high, when firm performance is low, and the competitive intensity of the industry is high. The findings of this study provide useful insights into the specific ways by which celebrity CEOs attempt to protect their established status and reputation. This paper contributes to various domains of research concerning CEOs, impression management, and CSR.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Gilsoo & Cho, Sam Yul & Arthurs, Jonathan & Lee, Eun Kyung, 2020. "Celebrity CEO, identity threat, and impression management: Impact of celebrity status on corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 69-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:111:y:2020:i:c:p:69-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320300217
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 351-383, October.
    2. Haniffa, R.M. & Cooke, T.E., 2005. "The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 391-430.
    3. Eric A. Fong, 2010. "Relative CEO Underpayment and CEO Behaviour Towards R&D Spending," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1095-1122, September.
    4. Glenn Hoetker & Thomas Mellewigt, 2009. "Choice and performance of governance mechanisms: matching alliance governance to asset type," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(10), pages 1025-1044, October.
    5. Timothy B. Palmer & Robert M. Wiseman, 1999. "Decoupling risk taking from income stream uncertainty: a holistic model of risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(11), pages 1037-1062, November.
    6. Abadie, Alberto & Imbens, Guido W., 2011. "Bias-Corrected Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 29(1), pages 1-11.
    7. Daniel Slater & Heather Dixon-Fowler, 2009. "CEO International Assignment Experience and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(3), pages 473-489, October.
    8. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Bozeman, Dennis P. & Kacmar, K. Michele, 1997. "A Cybernetic Model of Impression Management Processes in Organizations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 9-30, January.
    10. Carl J. Kock & Juan Santaló & Luis Diestre, 2012. "Corporate Governance and the Environment: What Type of Governance Creates Greener Companies?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 492-514, May.
    11. Aaron K. Chatterji & David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 125-169, March.
    12. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    13. Chen, Chung-Jen & Guo, Ruey-Shan & Hsiao, Yung-Chang & Chen, Kuo-Liang, 2018. "How business strategy in non-financial firms moderates the curvilinear effects of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on corporate financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 154-167.
    14. Chen, Wanyu (Tina) & Zhou, Gaoguang (Stephen) & Zhu, Xindong (Kevin), 2019. "CEO tenure and corporate social responsibility performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 292-302.
    15. Aaron K. Chatterji & Michael W. Toffel, 2010. "How firms respond to being rated," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(9), pages 917-945, September.
    16. Sam Y. Cho & Jonathan D. Arthurs & David M. Townsend & Douglas R. Miller & Jeffrey Q. Barden, 2016. "Performance deviations and acquisition premiums: The impact of CEO celebrity on managerial risk‐taking," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2677-2694, December.
    17. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    18. Judith L. Walls & Pascual Berrone, 2017. "The Power of One to Make a Difference: How Informal and Formal CEO Power Affect Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 293-308, October.
    19. Wagner, Marcus, 2010. "The role of corporate sustainability performance for economic performance: A firm-level analysis of moderation effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1553-1560, May.
    20. Jaepil Choi & Heli Wang, 2009. "Stakeholder relations and the persistence of corporate financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 895-907, August.
    21. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    22. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    23. Donald C. Hambrick & Sydney Finkelstein, 1995. "The effects of ownership structure on conditions at the top: The case of CEO pay raises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 175-193.
    24. Oleg V. Petrenko & Federico Aime & Jason Ridge & Aaron Hill, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility or CEO narcissism? CSR motivations and organizational performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 262-279, February.
    25. Stephen J. Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Reputation and Social Performance: The Importance of Fit," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 435-455, May.
    26. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    27. Kewei Hou & David T. Robinson, 2006. "Industry Concentration and Average Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1927-1956, August.
    28. Auh, Seigyoung & Menguc, Bulent, 2005. "Balancing exploration and exploitation: The moderating role of competitive intensity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1652-1661, December.
    29. Zyglidopoulos, Stelios C. & Georgiadis, Andreas P. & Carroll, Craig E. & Siegel, Donald S., 2012. "Does media attention drive corporate social responsibility?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1622-1627.
    30. Scott D. Graffin & James B. Wade & Joseph F. Porac & Robert C. McNamee, 2008. "The Impact of CEO Status Diffusion on the Economic Outcomes of Other Senior Managers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 457-474, June.
    31. Kevin Koh, 2011. "Value or Glamour? An empirical investigation of the effect of celebrity CEOs on financial reporting practices and firm performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 517-547, June.
    32. Ranjay Gulati & Dovev Lavie & Harbir Singh, 2009. "The nature of partnering experience and the gains from alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(11), pages 1213-1233, November.
    33. Christine M. Beckman & Pamela R. Haunschild & Damon J. Phillips, 2004. "Friends or Strangers? Firm-Specific Uncertainty, Market Uncertainty, and Network Partner Selection," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(3), pages 259-275, June.
    34. Won-Yong Oh & Jongseok Cha & Young Kyun Chang, 2017. "Does Ownership Structure Matter? The Effects of Insider and Institutional Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 111-124, November.
    35. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    36. Zhi Tang & Clyde Eiríkur Hull & Sandra Rothenberg, 2012. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement Strategy Moderates the CSR–Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1274-1303, November.
    37. Robert M. Bushman & Joseph D. Piotroski & Abbie J. Smith, 2005. "Insider Trading Restrictions and Analysts' Incentives to Follow Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 35-66, February.
    38. Katalin Takacs Haynes & Amy Hillman, 2010. "The effect of board capital and CEO power on strategic change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(11), pages 1145-1163, November.
    39. Oh, Won-Yong & Chang, Young Kyun & Jung, Rami, 2018. "Experience-based human capital or fixed paradigm problem? CEO tenure, contextual influences, and corporate social (ir)responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 325-333.
    40. Elaine Mosakowski, 1997. "Strategy Making Under Causal Ambiguity: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Evidence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(4), pages 414-442, August.
    41. MuiChing Chan & John Watson & David Woodliff, 2014. "Corporate Governance Quality and CSR Disclosures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 59-73, November.
    42. Won-Yong Oh & Young Kyun Chang & Zheng Cheng, 2016. "When CEO Career Horizon Problems Matter for Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Roles of Industry-Level Discretion and Blockholder Ownership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 279-291, January.
    43. Mathew L. A. Hayward & Violina P. Rindova & Timothy G. Pollock, 2004. "Believing one's own press: the causes and consequences of CEO celebrity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(7), pages 637-653, July.
    44. Mikko Manner, 2010. "The Impact of CEO Characteristics on Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 53-72, June.
    45. Mike Adams & Philip Hardwick, 1998. "An Analysis of Corporate Donations: United Kingdom Evidence," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 641-654, September.
    46. Jordi Surroca & Josep A. Tribó & Sandra Waddock, 2010. "Corporate responsibility and financial performance: the role of intangible resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 463-490, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhaocheng Xu, 2023. "CEOs’ early famine experience, managerial discretion and corporate social responsibility," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Ye Li & Yajun Zhang & Lu Lu & Junwei Zhang & Xiuli Sun, 2023. "Laughters Nurturing Tears for Leaders and Organizations: The Implications of Leader Humor for Leader Workplace Deviance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 603-621, December.
    3. Kim, Bora & Lee, Seoki, 2022. "The impact of celebrity CEOs on restaurant firm performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 869-880.
    4. Zhou, Linzi & Long, Wenbin & Qu, Xin & Yao, Daifei, 2023. "Celebrity CEOs and corporate investment: A psychological contract perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Wu, Bao & Fang, Chevy-Hanqing & Wang, Qi & Huang, Qiongxian, 2023. "Does managerial networking impinge our morality in Guanxi context? The moderating effect of corruption perception," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Jeong, Nara & Kim, Nari & Arthurs, Jonathan D., 2021. "The CEO’s tenure life cycle, corporate social responsibility and the moderating role of the CEO’s political orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 464-474.
    7. Shahzeb Hussain & T. C. Melewar & Constantinos-Vasilios Priporas & Pantea Foroudi & Waleed Yusef, 2021. "Understanding Celebrity Trust and Its Effects on Other Credibility and Image Constructs: A Qualitative Approach," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(4), pages 247-262, November.
    8. Kyle D. Turner, 2022. "Actions in the spotlight: Differential effects of corporate social responsibility actions on organizational celebrity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 860-870, July.
    9. Zhaocheng Xu & Jingchuan Hou, 2021. "Effects of CEO Overseas Experience on Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-24, May.
    10. Daewoung Choi & Hyunju Shin & Kyoungmi Kim, 2023. "CEO’s Childhood Experience of Natural Disaster and CSR Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(2), pages 281-306, November.
    11. Chiu, Sana (Shih-chi) & Hoskisson, Robert E. & Tony Kong, Dejun & Li, Andrew & Shao, Ping, 2023. "Predicting primary and secondary stakeholder engagement: A CEO motivation-means contingency model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    12. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on corporate social responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Wang, Peizhang, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate innovation–The moderating role of CEO social capital," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    14. Bao, Xin & Sun, Baiqing & Han, Meini & Lin, Han & Lau, Raymond Y.K., 2023. "Quantifying the impact of CEO social media celebrity status on firm value: Novel measures from digital gatekeeping theory," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    15. Kaur, Puneet & Talwar, Shalini & Madanaguli, Arun & Srivastava, Shalini & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and hospitality sector: Charting new frontiers for restaurant businesses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1234-1248.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jacob Brower & Peter A. Dacin, 2020. "An Institutional Theory Approach to the Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-836, June.
    2. Saridakis, Charalampos & Angelidou, Sofia & Woodside, Arch G., 2023. "How historical and social aspirations reshape the relationship between corporate financial performance and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    3. José‐Luis Godos‐Díez & Laura Cabeza‐García & Roberto Fernández‐Gago & Mariano Nieto‐Antolín, 2020. "Does CEO media exposure affect corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 825-840, March.
    4. Saridakis, Charalampos & Angelidou, Sofia & Woodside, Arch G., 2020. "What type of CSR engagement suits my firm best? Evidence from an abductively-derived typology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 174-187.
    5. Sanja Pekovic & Sebastian Vogt, 2021. "The fit between corporate social responsibility and corporate governance: the impact on a firm’s financial performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1095-1125, May.
    6. Zhaocheng Xu & Jingchuan Hou, 2021. "Effects of CEO Overseas Experience on Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-24, May.
    7. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2015. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts' perceptions and shifting institutional logics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1053-1081, July.
    8. Yuan Yuan & Louise Yi Lu & Gaoliang Tian & Yangxin Yu, 2020. "Business Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 359-377, March.
    9. Yuehua Xu & Guangtao Zeng, 2021. "Corporate social performance aspiration and its effects," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1181-1207, December.
    10. Price, Joseph M. & Sun, Wenbin, 2017. "Doing good and doing bad: The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 82-97.
    11. Jeong, Nara & Kim, Nari & Arthurs, Jonathan D., 2021. "The CEO’s tenure life cycle, corporate social responsibility and the moderating role of the CEO’s political orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 464-474.
    12. Patricia Crifo & Elena Escrig-Olmedo & Nicolas Mottis, 2019. "Corporate Governance as a Key Driver of Corporate Sustainability in France: The Role of Board Members and Investor Relations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1127-1146, November.
    13. Hajer Tebini & Bouchra M’Zali & Pascal Lang & Paz Méndez-Rodrı́guez, 2015. "Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Controversial Relationship," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Enrique Ballestero & Blanca Pérez-Gladish & Ana Garcia-Bernabeu (ed.), Socially Responsible Investment, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 53-73, Springer.
    14. Yi Tang & Cuili Qian & Guoli Chen & Rui Shen, 2015. "How CEO hubris affects corporate social (ir)responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1338-1357, September.
    15. Markus Hang & Jerome Geyer‐Klingeberg & Andreas Rathgeber & Stefan Stöckl, 2018. "Economic Development Matters: A Meta‐Regression Analysis on the Relation between Environmental Management and Financial Performance," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(4), pages 720-744, August.
    16. Bhaskar, Ratikant & Li, Peigong & Bansal, Shashank & Kumar, Satish, 2023. "A new insight on CEO characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR): A meta-analytical review," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    17. Gangi, Francesco & Meles, Antonio & Monferrà, Stefano & Mustilli, Mario, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility help the survivorship of SMEs and large firms?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    18. Bu, Luofan & Chan, Kam C. & Choi, Ahrum & Zhou, Gaoguang, 2021. "Talented inside directors and corporate social responsibility: A tale of two roles," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Minji Kim & Tohyun Kim, 2020. "When Do CEOs Engage in CSR Activities? Performance Feedback, CEO Ownership, and CSR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-13, October.
    20. Siew Peng Lee, 2023. "Board monitoring effectiveness and corporate sustainability performance: do legal system and CEO non-duality matter?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1243-1267, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:111:y:2020:i:c:p:69-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.