CEO’s early-life extreme experiences and corporate social responsibility: the moderating role of CEO power

Purpose This study aims to explore the relation between CEO’s early-life extreme experiences and firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) taking while also examining the moderating influence of CEO power. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of public listed companies in China over 2010–2020 (with 6,008 firm-year observations), this study examines the context of multiple early-life extreme experiences by dividing CEO’s early-life extreme experiences into two distinct types: environment-based and individual-based experiences. The environment based early-life experiences include that of World War II and the Great Famine era (1959–1961), while the individual based early-life experiences cover individual experiences from poor families and military services. Findings This study finds that firm with CEOs poses all these early-life experiences tends to have higher CSR taking. Moreover, this study also finds that CEO power enhances the effect of CEO’s early-life extreme experiences on CSR. Originality/value This study provides a new perspective on the role of individual traits in driving altruistic CSR motivations by considering the impact of various events on the CEO’s values, perceptions and decision-making processes. In addition, this study also constructs a multiple-event measure of the early-life extreme experiences of CEOs that combines both external environmental and individual factors.