Date of Award
Spring 3-20-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration
Department
Marketing
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Pramod Iyer
Second Advisor
Nik Nikolov
Third Advisor
Leo MacDonald
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Research in marketing and management has sought to answer why organizations devote resources and effort to invest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. As such, scholarly attention has begun to focus more on understanding the antecedents of ESG, frequently through the lens of stakeholder theory. Scholars have also focused on the role of the CEO in ESG because the CEO, as leader of the firm, shapes the values and orientation of an organization and plays a pivotal role in setting the firm’s strategic actions. Hubris is a prominent character trait of many corporate executives. Narcissism and psychopathy are also the most prominent negative personality traits discussed in psychological and management literature. But how do other stakeholders of the firm protect their interests if the CEO’s cognitive traits bias ESG participation? Traditionally, firms have given priority to larger institutional stakeholders while tending to ignore the voices of retail investors whose individual power is too diffused to exert any significant influence on the case for ESG investments. I use upper echelon theory (UET) and stakeholder theory to focus on how undesirable CEO characteristics influence ESG performance. While prior research on ESG has concentrated on a limited number of CEO personality traits, this research expands and provides new insights into CEO characteristics and presents a model for how and why other stakeholders may affect the role of the CEO in driving ESG performance and brand equity (BE).
Included in
Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Corporate Finance Commons, Leadership Commons, Marketing Commons, Strategic Management Policy Commons
