Managerial Characteristics and Corporate Social Performance Under Institutional Risk: The Moderating Role of Governance Quality

Abstract

Corporate social performance has increasingly become a strategic source of competitive advantage, requiring examination of both firm-level leadership factors and broader institutional contexts. Drawing on upper echelons and institutional theories, this study examines how observable CEO demographic (age, gender, nationality) and cognitive (education, tenure, multiple directorships) characteristics influence corporate social performance and how institutional governance conditions moderate these relationships. Using panel data analysis, the study empirically examines the relationship between CEO characteristics and social performance outcomes, while assessing the moderating role of governance quality. In addition, the analysis explores potential differences by industry sensitivity through a subsample approach, where firms are divided into sensitive and non-sensitive industries to test heterogeneous effects. The results indicate that the influence of CEO characteristics varies across institutional and industry contexts. In sensitive industries, demographic characteristics exert a stronger and more consistent influence on social performance, particularly under stronger governance conditions, while cognitive traits also contribute in a less stable and more governance-dependent manner. In non-sensitive industries, both demographic and cognitive characteristics exhibit a relatively similar influence on social performance, suggesting a more balanced role of CEO traits in less scrutinized environments. The findings suggest that executive influence on sustainability outcomes is not uniform but depends on the interaction between leadership attributes, institutional governance, and industry sensitivity, highlighting the importance of contextual factors in understanding variations in corporate social performance.