Giving Green an Office: Whether and When Appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer Affects CS(i)R

Ruchunyi Fu; Yi Tang; Guoli Chen

doi:10.5465/AMBPP.2018.11449abstract

Giving Green an Office: Whether and When Appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer Affects CS(i)R

Ruchunyi Fu
, Yi Tang
, Guoli Chen

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference proceeding › peer-review

Abstract

Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study analyzes the social performance consequences of having a chief sustainability officer (CSO) in the top management team (TMT). We predict that appointing a CSO will increase a firm’s socially responsible activities (CSR) and reduce its socially irresponsible activities (CSiR). We further explore the multi-level boundary conditions of these relationships. With a sample of S&P 500 firms for 2005-2014, we find a positive (negative) relationship between CSO presence and CSR (CSiR). Moreover, the CSO-CSiR relationship becomes stronger when the CSO is professionally competent, when the CSO has personal connections with the CEO, when the firm has a corporate social responsibility committee on the board, and when the firm is in a culpable industry, but the relationship is weaker when the firm has a bad prior record of social performance. Implications to strategic leadership research and the corporate social performance literature are discussed.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Academy of Management Proceedings 2018
Editors	Sonia Taneja
Publisher	Academy of Management
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2018.11449abstract
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2018
Event	78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2018: Improving Lives - Chicago, United States Duration: 10 Aug 2018 → 14 Aug 2018 https://aom.org/events/annual-meeting/past-annual-meetings/2018-improving-lives (Conference website) https://journals.aom.org/toc/amproc/2018/1 (Conference proceedings)

Publication series

Name	Academy of Management Proceedings
Publisher	Academy of Management
ISSN (Print)	0065-0668
ISSN (Electronic)	2151-6561

Conference

Conference	78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2018
Country/Territory	United States
City	Chicago
Period	10/08/18 → 14/08/18
Internet address	https://aom.org/events/annual-meeting/past-annual-meetings/2018-improving-lives (Conference website) https://journals.aom.org/toc/amproc/2018/1 (Conference proceedings)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

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10.5465/AMBPP.2018.11449abstract

Cite this

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title = "Giving Green an Office: Whether and When Appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer Affects CS(i)R",

abstract = "Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study analyzes the social performance consequences of having a chief sustainability officer (CSO) in the top management team (TMT). We predict that appointing a CSO will increase a firm{\textquoteright}s socially responsible activities (CSR) and reduce its socially irresponsible activities (CSiR). We further explore the multi-level boundary conditions of these relationships. With a sample of S\&P 500 firms for 2005-2014, we find a positive (negative) relationship between CSO presence and CSR (CSiR). Moreover, the CSO-CSiR relationship becomes stronger when the CSO is professionally competent, when the CSO has personal connections with the CEO, when the firm has a corporate social responsibility committee on the board, and when the firm is in a culpable industry, but the relationship is weaker when the firm has a bad prior record of social performance. Implications to strategic leadership research and the corporate social performance literature are discussed.",

author = "Ruchunyi Fu and Yi Tang and Guoli Chen",

note = "Publisher copyright: Copyright of Academy of Management Proceedings is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. The Academy of Management does not maintain the full text version of papers presented at the Academy's meetings. Please contact the author(s) directly to obtain access to the full text content.; 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2018 : Improving Lives ; Conference date: 10-08-2018 Through 14-08-2018",

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Fu, R, Tang, Y & Chen, G 2018, Giving Green an Office: Whether and When Appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer Affects CS(i)R. in S Taneja (ed.), Academy of Management Proceedings 2018. Academy of Management Proceedings, Academy of Management, 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2018, Chicago, United States, 10/08/18. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2018.11449abstract

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N1 - Publisher copyright: Copyright of Academy of Management Proceedings is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. The Academy of Management does not maintain the full text version of papers presented at the Academy's meetings. Please contact the author(s) directly to obtain access to the full text content.

PY - 2018/8/1

Y1 - 2018/8/1

N2 - Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study analyzes the social performance consequences of having a chief sustainability officer (CSO) in the top management team (TMT). We predict that appointing a CSO will increase a firm’s socially responsible activities (CSR) and reduce its socially irresponsible activities (CSiR). We further explore the multi-level boundary conditions of these relationships. With a sample of S&P 500 firms for 2005-2014, we find a positive (negative) relationship between CSO presence and CSR (CSiR). Moreover, the CSO-CSiR relationship becomes stronger when the CSO is professionally competent, when the CSO has personal connections with the CEO, when the firm has a corporate social responsibility committee on the board, and when the firm is in a culpable industry, but the relationship is weaker when the firm has a bad prior record of social performance. Implications to strategic leadership research and the corporate social performance literature are discussed.

AB - Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study analyzes the social performance consequences of having a chief sustainability officer (CSO) in the top management team (TMT). We predict that appointing a CSO will increase a firm’s socially responsible activities (CSR) and reduce its socially irresponsible activities (CSiR). We further explore the multi-level boundary conditions of these relationships. With a sample of S&P 500 firms for 2005-2014, we find a positive (negative) relationship between CSO presence and CSR (CSiR). Moreover, the CSO-CSiR relationship becomes stronger when the CSO is professionally competent, when the CSO has personal connections with the CEO, when the firm has a corporate social responsibility committee on the board, and when the firm is in a culpable industry, but the relationship is weaker when the firm has a bad prior record of social performance. Implications to strategic leadership research and the corporate social performance literature are discussed.

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Giving Green an Office: Whether and When Appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer Affects CS(i)R

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

UN SDGs

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