Who Governs Giving?: Executive Educational Backgrounds and the Adoption of Employee-Led Corporate Social Responsibility

초록

Matching-gift programs institutionalize employee-led CSR by amplifying employees' voluntary donations. Yet we know relatively little about what promotes the adoption of these decentralized forms of corporate social engagement. Drawing on upper echelons theory, this study argues that executives with STEM educational backgrounds tend to favor problem environments that are technically framed, systemically structured, and analytically tractable, making them less receptive to decentralized forms of corporate social engagement such as matching-gift programs. Using panel data on 1604 publicly listed Japanese firms from 2006 to 2020, this study finds that a higher proportion of STEM-educated executives is associated with a lower likelihood of adopting matching-gift programs. This negative association is attenuated by greater female representation in the executive team. Moreover, although STEM-educated leadership discourages the adoption of matching-gift programs, it is positively associated with firm-led CSR investments. By distinguishing not only how much firms give but also how giving is governed, this study shows that top leadership composition can shape employee-driven CSR initiatives.

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