CEO characteristics and corporate social performance: evidence from listed Indian companies

Upper echelons theory takes the perspective that demographic characteristics of top management create normative pressures that will predictably shaping organizational outcomes. While this theoretical perspective has been applied to financial performance of organizations, there is a lack of research on its application to social performance. Drawing on CEOs characteristics of listed family companies in India together with corporate social performance ratings of these companies, this study provides evidence on this application of upper echelons theory. It compares the effects of age, length of experience, gender, conferred title, education level, occupational background and cross-directorships of CEOs on corporate social performance.