Family Sibling Effect and Executives' Corporate Social Behavior

Area of Science:

• Business Strategy
• Organizational Behavior
• Family Dynamics

Background:

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a key business strategy.
• Research on executive traits and CSR is extensive, but the impact of early family experiences, specifically sibling interactions, is understudied.
• Understanding formative influences on executive decision-making is crucial for corporate governance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of the number of executives' siblings on corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior.
• To examine the moderating roles of birth order and sibling gender composition in the relationship between sibling number and CSR.
• To provide insights into how early family structures shape executive-level corporate social responsibility engagement.

Main Methods:

• Empirical analysis of Chinese A-shared private listed companies from 2014 to 2017.
• Statistical modeling to assess the relationship between the number of executive siblings and CSR.
• Examination of interaction effects for birth order and sibling gender composition.

Main Results:

• An inverted U-shaped relationship was found between the number of executives' siblings and corporate social responsibility behavior.
• The positive association between sibling number and CSR is stronger for first-born executives.
• The relationship is also strengthened when executives have female siblings.

Conclusions:

• Early family sibling interactions significantly influence corporate social responsibility behavior.
• Birth order and the presence of female siblings are critical moderators in this relationship.
• Findings suggest that family background is an important, yet often overlooked, determinant of corporate social responsibility strategies.