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

摘要

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.