Executive Leadership Style and Firm Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement

Firms have to think creatively and strategically to inform corporate social responsibility that benefits essential stakeholders. Not only is doing good vital for business, but it has become the responsibility of firms to create initiatives that incorporate different stakeholders. Prior research has shown a relationship between CEO leadership styles and CSR initiatives to determine their impact on stakeholders. However, more literature needs to look at different types of leadership styles and different types of CSR focus. This dissertation explores the relationship between executive leadership styles and firm corporate social responsibility engagement with different focuses on philanthropic, operational effectiveness, and business model transformation. It also incorporates the potential moderating effect of CEO narcissism to determine if it amplifies the relationship between a particular leadership style and CSR focus. Stakeholder and Upper echelon theory provide the framework for this study as it explores leadership style and decision-making when leaders consider CSR engagement. This study empirically investigates three leadership styles: servant, transactional, and transformational. The data was collected using a quantitative survey, and the findings provide theoretical and practical insight.