Racial minority CEOs, board characteristics, and skilled migrant hiring

Chief executive officers (CEOs) are generally expected to make strategic decisions in pursuit of their firms’ best interests. Nevertheless, CEO decisions can be made upon noneconomic factors, such as their personal values and their relationship with the board. Building on upper echelons theory and CEO–board power dynamics literature, I examine how racial minority CEOs influence firms’ skilled migrant hiring, moderated by board characteristics that potentially constrain CEO decision-making authority. I analyze whether and how Fortune 500 firms’ skilled migrant hiring patterns (2009–2019) vary by CEO race and the level of board political conservatism/white dominance. I find support for my hypotheses that organizations with racial minority CEOs tend to hire more skilled migrants, but that such hiring decisions can be hampered by board characteristics that activate the CEOs’ value threat as minorities. I highlight the importance of organizational contexts, where the leaders are situated, in achieving organizational competitiveness and diversity. My findings contribute to literatures on CEO–board power dynamics as well as CEO diversity and strategic human resource management.