Abstract

This paper examines the impact of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) power and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of commercial banks. The sample includes 31 Vietnamese banks from 2010 to 2023. This study uses the Generalized Method of Moments dynamic approach to address heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, and potential endogeneity issues. The findings demonstrate a positive relationship between the CEO’s power and CSR. Conversely, banks with extensive ESOP programs tend to make employees more focused on short-term profits and stock prices, thereby reducing their motivation to invest in CSR activities. Furthermore, powerful CEOs moderate the association between ESOP and CSR. Our findings align with Agency Theory, Managerial Entrenchment Theory, and Temporal Orientation Theory. These findings provide managerial implications for developing sustainable CSR in emerging economies.