When Innovator Casts A Shadow: CEO Inventor Experience and Corporate Social Irresponsibility

This study explores the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) inventor experience on firms’ engagement in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). While recognizing the growing interest in CEO inventor experience and its positive association with firm innovation and performance outcomes, this research takes a divergent approach by proposing an adverse effect of CEO inventor experience on firms’ social performance. Drawing on strategic leadership literature and insights from studies on inventors and unethical behavior, we propose that CEO inventor experience will be associated with a heightened sense of entitlement and a greater tendency for self-serving justifications for unethical decisions, thereby being associated with greater CSI engagement. To further examine the underlying mechanisms, we investigate the moderating effects of CEO career variety, CEO founder experience, and the prevalence of inventor CEOs within an industry. These factors are expected to shape and interact with the relationship between CEO inventor experience and CSI engagement. Using a longitudinal dataset encompassing S&P 1500 firms, our empirical analysis supports our hypotheses. By showing that CEOs with more inventor experience are associated with greater CSI activities, this study unveils the adverse social implications of CEO inventor experience, adding to the growing interest in this unique CEO attribute.