Married CEOs and Corporate Social Responsibility

47 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2017 Last revised: 29 May 2019

See all articles by Shantaram P. Hegde

Shantaram P. Hegde

University of Connecticut- Finance Department

Dev R. Mishra

University of Saskatchewan - Edwards School of Business

Date Written: May 6, 2019

Abstract

Studies in social sciences suggest that a normative commitment to stable, biological married life is a potent catalyst for inculcating and nourishing prosocial values, preferences and behaviors among family members. Extrapolating from this literature, we investigate whether firms led by married chief executive officers (CEOs) are associated with better corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our analysis of 2,163 U.S. public corporations from 1993 to 2008 shows that firms led by married CEOs are associated with significantly higher scores on a popular CSR index, after controlling for a wide range of firm characteristics and CEO attributes. Further, the observed positive relation is particularly sharper with the diversity and employee relations components of CSR. Our findings highlight CEO marital status as an important driver of socially responsible corporate decision making.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Marriage, CEO, Risk Propensity, Incentives

JEL Classification: O3, G1, G3, D8

Suggested Citation

Hegde, Shantaram P. and Mishra, Dev R., Married CEOs and Corporate Social Responsibility (May 6, 2019). Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 58, pp. 226–246, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3055306 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3055306

Shantaram P. Hegde (Contact Author)

University of Connecticut- Finance Department ( email )

School of Business
2100 Hillside Road
Storrs, CT 06269
United States
860-486-5135 (Phone)

Dev R. Mishra

University of Saskatchewan - Edwards School of Business ( email )

Edwards School of Business
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A7
Canada
306-966-8457 (Phone)
306-966-2515 (Fax)

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