Entrepreneurs’ self-perceived social status and firms’ philanthropy: evidence from Chinese private firms

Executives’ status is increasingly recognized as an important factor in firms’ decision-making, while the way executives’ perception of their status influences firms’ strategy is underexplored. Building on insights from both upper echelons and psychological studies, this study investigates the effect of entrepreneurs’ self-perceived social status on firms’ philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese private firms, we find that entrepreneurs’ self-perceived social status positively affects firms’ donations by drawing their attention to the benefits of philanthropy and enhancing their altruism values. However, such relationships are weakened for entrepreneurs who know about awards related to CSR and firms that join a business association that values CSR; this shows that external information about the value of CSR reduces the effect of entrepreneurs’ self-perceived social status. Our findings highlight the importance of executives’ self-perceived social status, offering important implications for both CSR and upper echelons research.