Is Identification All the Same? The Differential Effects of CEO and CFO Organizational Identification on Corporate Philanthropy

• Published in: Management and organization review 2022-02, Vol.18 (1), p.73-107
• Main Authors: Xu, Yuehua, Shi, Wei, Qin, Xin, Zhang, Junsheng, Tang, Xiaojian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Behavior; Chief executive officers; Chief financial officers; Decision making; Emerging markets; Gender; Identification; Influence; Legitimacy; Philanthropy; Reputations; Roles; Social identity; Social responsibility; Teams
• ISSN: 1740-8776; 1740-8784
• DOI: 10.1017/mor.2021.17

By integrating role theory and social identity theory, this study examines the differential effects of organizational identification of the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief financial officer (CFO) on corporate philanthropy. We argue that CEO organizational identification can positively affect corporate philanthropy, whereas the opposite holds for CFO organizational identification. This is because the CEO and the CFO have varying attitudes about corporate philanthropy owing to their different role expectations; thus, those who identify strongly with their organizations would act for the best interests of the firm. Moreover, because the beliefs of top executives are probably influenced by those of other executives, we further explore the interaction between the CEO and the CFO. We propose that the positive influence of CEO organizational identification on corporate philanthropy will be weakened by CFO organizational identification, and the moderating effect of CFO organizational identification will become stronger when the CEO and the CFO have opposite genders or when the CFO has ownership. From a sample of 880 publicly traded firms in China, we found support for our hypotheses. Our study can contribute to the corporate philanthropy literature and research on executive organizational identification by highlighting the importance of executive roles and their interactions. 基于角色理论和社会认同理论，我们提出CEO和CFO组织认同对企业慈善捐赠会有不同的影响。我们预期，CEO组织认同会增进企业慈善捐赠，而CFO组织认同则会抑制企业慈善捐赠。这是由于CEO和CFO的角色期望不同，以至于他们对企业慈善捐赠的看法也不同，而当他们强烈认同自己组织时，他们会以自己认为的对公司最有利的方式行事。此外，由于高管对慈善捐赠的看法可能会受到其他高管的影响，我们进一步探讨CEO与CFO之间的互动关系。我们预期CEO组织认同对企业慈善捐赠的积极影响将会被CFO组织认同弱化；而且当CEO与CFO为异性或者CFO持股较高时，CFO组织认同的调节效应会更强。基于880家中国上市公司样本，我们证实了以上假设。总体上，我们的研究强调了高管角色及其互动的重要性，以此深化了企业慈善捐赠文献和组织认同的相关研究。 На основе соединения теории ролей и теории социальной идентичности, данное исследование изучает различное влияние организационной идентификации главного исполнительного директора (CEO) и главного финансового директора (CFO) на корпоративную благотворительность. Мы утверждаем, что организационная идентификация генерального директора может положительно влиять на корпоративную благотворительность, тогда как в случае организационной идентификации финансового директора справедливо обратное. Это связано с тем, что генеральный директор и финансовый директор по-разному относятся к корпоративной благотворительности из-за разных ролей; таким образом, те, кто прочно отождествляет себя с организацией, будут действовать в интересах компании.