IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v75y2025ics0275531924005294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO reputation in corporate innovation: Financing versus talent-attraction

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Yanmei
  • Wang, Changyun
  • Wang, Yuqi

Abstract

In this paper we measure the CEO reputation based on not only "how the CEO performs" but also "how the CEO is perceived", including three dimensions: firm performance, CEO passive reputation from search engine and proactive reputation management through managers’ microblogging, and document that CEO reputation has a positive effect on corporate innovation. Using a novel data crawling from authenticated microblogs of CEOs, we find that CEO reputation can enhance the level of corporate innovation through two channels: on one hand, it alleviates financing constraints, reduces the cost of equity financing, and promotes equity financing; on the other hand, it enhances the level of collaboration with research and development (R&D) personnel and increases the involvement of academicians in innovation activities. We also show that the impact of proactive reputation management through microblogging is relatively limited comparing to competence and passive media attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Yanmei & Wang, Changyun & Wang, Yuqi, 2025. "CEO reputation in corporate innovation: Financing versus talent-attraction," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:75:y:2025:i:c:s0275531924005294
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531924005294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102736?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. Holmstrom, Bengt, 1989. "Agency costs and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 305-327, December.
    2. Stephen P. Ferris & Murali Jagannathan & A. C. Pritchard, 2003. "Too Busy to Mind the Business? Monitoring by Directors with Multiple Board Appointments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 1087-1111, June.
    3. Jeff S. Armstrong & Michael R. Darby & Lynne G. Zucker, 2003. "Commercializing knowledge: university science, knowledge capture and firm performance in biotechnology," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Sep, pages 149-170.
    4. Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Boubaker, Sabri & Rouatbi, Wael, 2015. "Ownership structure, control contestability, and corporate debt maturity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 265-285.
    5. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 2001. "The Firm as a Dedicated Hierarchy: A Theory of the Origins and Growth of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 805-851.
    6. Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1093-1135, June.
    7. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 111-132, December.
    8. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2005. "Market Value and Patent Citations," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(1), pages 16-38, Spring.
    9. Miriam Flickinger & Markus Wrage & Anja Tuschke & Rudi Bresser, 2016. "How CEOs protect themselves against dismissal: A social status perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 1107-1117, June.
    10. Chemmanur, Thomas J & Fulghieri, Paolo, 1994. "Reputation, Renegotiation, and the Choice between Bank Loans and Publicly Traded Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(3), pages 475-506.
    11. Brickley, James A. & Linck, James S. & Coles, Jeffrey L., 1999. "What happens to CEOs after they retire? New evidence on career concerns, horizon problems, and CEO incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 341-377, June.
    12. Grover, Purva & Kar, Arpan Kumar & Ilavarasan, P. Vigneswara, 2019. "Impact of corporate social responsibility on reputation—Insights from tweets on sustainable development goals by CEOs," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 39-52.
    13. Philippe Aghion & John Van Reenen & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "Innovation and Institutional Ownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 277-304, February.
    14. Hall, Bronwyn H, 1993. "The Stock Market's Valuation of R&D Investment during the 1980's," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 259-264, May.
    15. Robert D. Dewar & Jane E. Dutton, 1986. "The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1422-1433, November.
    16. C. Edward Fee & Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2009. "Investment, Financing Constraints, and Internal Capital Markets: Evidence from the Advertising Expenditures of Multinational Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2361-2392, June.
    17. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    18. Gibbons, Robert & Murphy, Kevin J, 1992. "Optimal Incentive Contracts in the Presence of Career Concerns: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 468-505, June.
    19. Cao Thi Mien Thuy & Nguyen Vinh Khuong & Nguyen Thi Canh & Nguyen Thanh Liem, 2022. "The mediating effect of stock price crash risk on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and cost of equity moderated by state ownership: Moderated‐mediation analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1384-1395, September.
    20. Yizao Chen & Shihua Huang, 2023. "CEO Reputation and Corporate Risk-Taking: Managerial Competence or Managerial Defence?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(14), pages 4028-4053, November.
    21. Sariol, Ana M. & Abebe, Michael A., 2017. "The influence of CEO power on explorative and exploitative organizational innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 38-45.
    22. Yunzhi Hu & Felipe Varas, 2021. "A Theory of Zombie Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(4), pages 1813-1867, August.
    23. Furukawa, Ryuzo & Goto, Akira, 2006. "The role of corporate scientists in innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 24-36, February.
    24. Doukas, John A. & Zhang, Rongyao, 2020. "Corporate managerial ability, earnings smoothing, and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    25. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    26. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    27. Amore, Mario Daniele & Schneider, Cédric & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2013. "Credit supply and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 835-855.
    28. Bengt Holmstrom & Joan Ricart i Costa, 1986. "Managerial Incentives and Capital Management," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 835-860.
    29. Gregory D. Saxton & Lina Gomez & Zed Ngoh & Yi-Pin Lin & Sarah Dietrich, 2019. "Do CSR Messages Resonate? Examining Public Reactions to Firms’ CSR Efforts on Social Media," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 359-377, March.
    30. Jian, Ming & Lee, Kin Wai, 2011. "Does CEO reputation matter for capital investments?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 929-946, September.
    31. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    32. Scharfstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1990. "Herd Behavior and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 465-479, June.
    33. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    34. David, Thomas & Di Giuli, Alberta & Romec, Arthur, 2023. "CEO reputation and shareholder voting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    35. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Was Prometheus Unbound by Chance? Risk, Diversification, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 709-751, August.
    36. Shi, Yang & Li, Jiachen & Liu, Ruiming, 2023. "Financing constraints and share pledges: Evidence from the share pledge reform in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    37. Flickinger, Miriam & Wrage, Markus & Tuschke, Anja & Bresser, Rudi, 2016. "How CEOs protect themselves against dismissal: A social status perspective," Munich Reprints in Economics 43516, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    38. Jean Tirole, 1996. "A Theory of Collective Reputations (with applications to the persistence of corruption and to firm quality)," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(1), pages 1-22.
    39. Cornaggia, Jess & Mao, Yifei & Tian, Xuan & Wolfe, Brian, 2015. "Does banking competition affect innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 189-209.
    40. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:1087-1112 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    42. Viral V. Acharya & Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, 2009. "Bankruptcy Codes and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 4949-4988, December.
    43. Hirshleifer, David & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Li, Dongmei, 2013. "Innovative efficiency and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 632-654.
    44. Paniagua, Jordi & Sapena, Juan, 2014. "Business performance and social media: Love or hate?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 719-728.
    45. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    46. Baghai, Ramin P. & Becker, Bo, 2020. "Reputations and credit ratings: Evidence from commercial mortgage-backed securities," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 425-444.
    47. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    48. He, Jie (Jack) & Tian, Xuan, 2013. "The dark side of analyst coverage: The case of innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 856-878.
    49. Jennifer Francis & Allen H. Huang & Shivaram Rajgopal & Amy Y. Zang, 2008. "CEO Reputation and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 109-147, March.
    50. Yuk Ying Chang & Sudipto Dasgupta & Gilles Hilary, 2010. "CEO Ability, Pay, and Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(10), pages 1633-1652, October.
    51. Kenneth M. Lehn & Mengxin Zhao, 2006. "CEO Turnover after Acquisitions: Are Bad Bidders Fired?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1759-1811, August.
    52. Diamond, Douglas W, 1989. "Reputation Acquisition in Debt Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 828-862, August.
    53. He, Zhaozhao & Hirshleifer, David, 2022. "The Exploratory Mindset and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 127-169, February.
    54. Cai, Xiangshang & Gao, Ning & Garrett, Ian & Xu, Yan, 2020. "Are CEOs judged on their companies' social reputation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    55. Yang, Guang & Huang, Ruixian & Shi, Yukun & Jia, Zhehao, 2021. "Does a CEO's private reputation impede corporate governance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    56. Pham, Hanh Song Thi & Tran, Hien Thi, 2020. "CSR disclosure and firm performance: The mediating role of corporate reputation and moderating role of CEO integrity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 127-136.
    57. Farrell, Kathleen & Unlu, Emre & Yu, Jin, 2014. "Stock repurchases as an earnings management mechanism: The impact of financing constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-15.
    58. Oliver D. Hart, 1983. "Optimal Labour Contracts under Asymmetric Information: An Introduction," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(1), pages 3-35.
    59. Kaplan, Steven N. & Reishus, David, 1990. "Outside directorships and corporate performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 389-410, October.
    60. McConnell, John J. & Muscarella, Chris J., 1985. "Corporate capital expenditure decisions and the market value of the firm," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 399-422, September.
    61. Michael Bailey & Ruiqing Cao & Theresa Kuchler & Johannes Stroebel, 2018. "The Economic Effects of Social Networks: Evidence from the Housing Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(6), pages 2224-2276.
    62. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lily Nguyen & Le Vu & Xiangkang Yin, 2021. "Share repurchases and firm innovation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1665-1695, April.
    2. Pang, Caiji & Wang, Ying, 2020. "Stock pledge, risk of losing control and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Giau Bui, Dien & Chen, Yehning & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2021. "Risk-taking of bank CEOs and corporate innovation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    4. Danlin Shen & Carl R. Chen & Xinyan Yan & Zhihong Yi, 2022. "Do credit market accessibility and legal protection shape corporate innovation?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 719-754, September.
    5. Acharya, Viral & Xu, Zhaoxia, 2017. "Financial dependence and innovation: The case of public versus private firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 223-243.
    6. Blanco, Iván & Wehrheim, David, 2017. "The bright side of financial derivatives: Options trading and firm innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 99-119.
    7. Hasan, Iftekhar & (Stan) Hoi, Chun-Keung & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2020. "Is social capital associated with corporate innovation? Evidence from publicly listed firms in the U.S," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Nguyen, Lily & Vu, Le & Yin, Xiangkang, 2020. "The undesirable effect of audit quality: Evidence from firm innovation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    9. Lili Dai & Rui Shen & Bohui Zhang, 2021. "Does the media spotlight burn or spur innovation?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 343-390, March.
    10. Moshirian, Fariborz & Tian, Xuan & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Wenrui, 2021. "Stock market liberalization and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 985-1014.
    11. Hsu, Yuan-Teng & Huang, Chia-Wei & Koedijk, Kees G., 2023. "Unintended consequences of compensation peer groups on corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Zhang, Ping & Wang, Yiru & Gao, Jieying, 2023. "Going public and innovation: Evidence from the ChiNext stock market," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 586-613.
    13. Chen Lin & Sibo Liu & Gustavo Manso, 2021. "Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3346-3367, June.
    14. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Shen, Yao & Xie, Jing, 2023. "Innovation beyond firm boundaries: Strategic alliances and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Chen, Chen & Chen, Yangyang & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Podolski, Edward J., 2016. "Be nice to your innovators: Employee treatment and corporate innovation performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-98.
    16. Mukherjee, Abhiroop & Singh, Manpreet & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2017. "Do corporate taxes hinder innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 195-221.
    17. Ziyang Li & Qianwei Ying & Wu Yan & Chenjun Fan, 2022. "Does just‐in‐time adoption have an impact on corporate innovation: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1599-1635, April.
    18. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2018. "Corporate innovative efficiency: Evidence of effects on credit ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 352-373.
    19. Xiong, Xun & Zhao, Long, 2025. "Manager sentiment and its effect on corporate innovation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    20. Yang, Huan, 2021. "Institutional dual holdings and risk-shifting: Evidence from corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CEO reputation; Reputation management; Financing; Innovation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:riibaf:v:75:y:2025:i:c:s0275531924005294. 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/ribaf .

    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.