This study explored how the nature of CEOs’ human capital affects the scope of their firms’ corporate social responsibility initiatives. By integrating upper echelons theory with the attention-based view of the firm, the analyses showed that generalist CEOs with a broader range of knowledge and skills tend to aim their firms’ corporate social responsibility efforts toward a broader range of responsibility domains than do specialist CEOs with a narrower range of knowledge and skills. The difference is weaker when a firm’s (...) board has a sustainability committee or when industry peers are active in a broad range of corporate social responsibility domains. These findings are supported by data on S&P 1500 firms spanning 2000 to 2018. (shrink)

This study investigates how CEOs with prosocial preferences influence corporate tax avoidance. Using personal charitable donations as a proxy for prosocial preferences, we find that prosocial CEOs are associated with significantly higher effective tax rates, indicating lower levels of tax avoidance. To address potential endogeneity, we employ a difference-in-differences framework based on exogenous CEO turnover events, complemented by propensity score matching. Our analysis reveals that the effect of prosocial CEOs is most pronounced when they trust the government’s efficiency in resource (...) allocation, when firms are subject to higher normative pressure, when tax avoidance exceeds shareholder expectations, and under conditions of heightened tax risk. Moreover, we demonstrate that by proactively reducing tax avoidance, prosocial CEOs benefit shareholders by increasing information transparency and lowering litigation risk. These findings highlight the influence of prosocial values in executive decision-making, promoting ethical business practices that benefit both shareholders and society. (shrink)