The Effect of CEO Career Horizon on Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure Decisions

This paper examines the effect of CEO career horizon on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure decisions. Within the framework of career concern, I conjecture that CEOs with shorter career horizon (e.g., soon-to-retire) have a tendency to prioritize short-term performance over long-term performance compared to those with longer horizon. This, in turn, may result a lower propensity of voluntary CSR disclosures. Analyzing hand-collected data on stand-alone CSR reports from S&P 1500 firms for the period from 2016 to 2019, I find that CEOs with shorter career horizons are less likely to issue CSR reports compared to those with longer horizons, consistent with the prediction. Overall, the present study makes contributions in two-folds. First, this study extends to the existing literature on voluntary CSR disclosures by highlighting CEO career horizon is potential determinant of CSR disclosure decisions. Second, in comparison with the prior literature largely focusing on the role of firm and board attributes as drivers of voluntary CSR disclosures, the present study introduces the first empirical evidence that CEO career horizon plays a significant role in shaping CSR disclosure decisions.