International Journal of Business and Economics Research

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

Received: 13 May 2019    Accepted:     Published: 29 July 2019
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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.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijber.20190804.18
Published in International Journal of Business and Economics Research (Volume 8, Issue 4, August 2019)
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), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

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

References
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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

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

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    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

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    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

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  • @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://download.sciencepg.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}
    }
    

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    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
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    JF  - International Journal of Business and Economics Research
    JO  - International Journal of Business and Economics Research
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    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
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