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Journal of Business Ethics
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics 3/2021

26-09-2020 | Original Paper

CSR and Family CEO: The Moderating Role of CEO’s Age

Authors: Olivier Meier, Guillaume Schier

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 3/2021

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Abstract

This study examines to what extent different types of CEOs in family firms influence external and internal stakeholder-related CSP as compared to CEOs in nonfamily firms. Linking family CEO and nonfamily CEO with CSR outcomes, we provide evidence that family CEOs are positively associated with both external and internal CSR, whereas nonfamily CEOs within family firms tend to be negatively associated with both external and internal CSR. We show that the incumbent CEO’s age moderates the above relationships, indicating the existence of shifting family priorities and suggesting a tendency toward CSR conformity as the salience of succession concerns increases.
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Footnotes
1
We started to collect our data from 2008 and controlled the homogeneity of our CSR data. Furthermore, we focused on a four-year time period (2008–2011) in so far as our family categorization would remain stable during this time lapse (no change in family firm status).
 
2
We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing out the issues associated with pure versus quasi-moderator. More specifically, the interpretation of the direct effect within or outside the interaction models is a crucial issue, as well as the role of the moderator variable. If a quasi-moderator variable has a direct influence on the dependent variable, when a pure moderation is involved the moderator variable only interacts with the independent variables but does not have any direct influence on the dependent variable. When quasi-moderation is involved, direct effects can only be analyzed within the interaction models. Direct effects can indeed be properly performed only if the interaction term is statistically insignificant (Darrow and Kahl 1982; Carte and Russel 2003).
 
3
We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting these issues. Specifically, the origin of the nonfamily CEO may have an impact on the incumbent CEO's attitude toward CSR, as it may influence his or her relationship with family businesses and his or her anchoring in the family agenda (Chua et al. 2003; Minichilli et al. 2014). Similarly, it is worth noting that factors associated with the newly appointed CEO could affect our results, as his or her arrival could be associated with poor financial results, resulting in fewer discretionary resources to invest in CSR.
 
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Metadata
Title
CSR and Family CEO: The Moderating Role of CEO’s Age
Authors
Olivier Meier
Guillaume Schier
Publication date
26-09-2020
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 3/2021
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04624-z

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