Military Experience Of Senior Executives And Corporate Social Responsibility

The reform and opening up has helped China’s economy take off,but the crude growth model has come at the expense of high-quality economic development,during which it has been accompanied by corporate social responsibility violations such as illegal and fraudulent practices,neglect of employee welfare,encroachment on consumer rights,and damage to the environment.The major political assertion in the report of the 19 th Party Congress that the main contradiction of our society has been transformed,i.e.,the contradiction between people’s growing need for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development,has prompted the public who aspire to a better life to pay more and more attention to corporate social responsibility(CSR).The concern of the state,the government and the public has made CSR inevitably become one of the hot spots of scholars’ research.However,as the research progresses,domestic scholars find that the improvement of CSR level is a process from quantitative to qualitative change,which cannot be achieved overnight by the rapid change of formal system,and thus actively seek the alternative effect of informal institutional governance.Executives as decision makers of corporate strategy directly influence CSR behavior,and executive traits have become the key focus of scholars studying informal institutional governance.The relationship between executive traits and CSR has been studied in the literature mainly from the background of returnees,academic experience,professional background,and demographic background characteristics of executives,but the influence of executives’ military experience on CSR has rarely been addressed,and the few papers that have addressed the influence of executives’ military experience on CSR have ignored the multidimensional perspective of CSR.The military,a special group,plays an important role in our society,and it is important to answer the questions of how the military experience of executives affects CSR,whether the gender and tenure of military executives affect the relationship between the military experience of executives and CSR,and whether the environmental differences in the nature of property rights and the level of marketization affect the relationship between the military experience of executives and CSR.Based on imprinting theory,top echelon theory,social role theory and principalagent theory,this thesis conducts an empirical analysis on the influence of executives’ military experience on CSR using the data of China’s listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2010 to 2020.Through theoretical and logical analysis,this thesis proposes and verifies five research hypotheses:(1)executives’ military experience has a significant promoting effect on CSR;(2)female military executives are more effective in promoting CSR;(3)the longer the tenure,the more effective the promoting effect of executives’ military experience on CSR;(4)state-owned enterprises highlight the governance effect of executives’ military experience on CSR;(5)low marketization process regions with harsher market environment can awaken the imprinting effect of executives’ military experience and enhance the level of corporate social responsibility.From the conclusion,the military experience of executives does significantly promote CSR.Enterprises should see the informal institutional governance effect of executives’ military experience on CSR and improve CSR level by introducing military executives;government departments should also follow the development trend of the times,improve and innovate the placement mode of veterans,and encourage qualified veterans to enter the management of enterprises to promote the fulfillment of CSR;in view of the excellent performance of female military executives in CSR,it is recommended that enterprises increase the proportion of female military executives;enterprises should appropriately extend the tenure of military executives to maintain the stability of CSR strategy;state-owned enterprises should ensure the smooth promotion channel in addition to the placement of veterans and give full play to the governance role of military executives;the governments of low-marketing regions in China should give priority to companies with military executives in attracting investment,so as to play the leading role of military executives in demonstrating,defending the achievements of the war against poverty,and alleviating the social problems of the regions.This thesis provides a new perspective for the study of CSR drivers,expands the dimension of the study of executives’ military experience and CSR,enriches the research content of executives’ military experience and CSR,provides evidence support for the civil-military integration strategy from a micro perspective,and has important practical significance for the government to formulate relevant policies and enterprises to select talents.