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Article contents
CEO Humility and Firm Reputation in China: The Mediating Role of Organizational Virtuousness and Government Intermediary Connection as a Boundary Condition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2025
Abstract
We theorize on how and when CEO humility positively shapes stakeholders’ evaluations of a firm. We posit that CEO humility has a positive effect on organizational virtuousness and, hence, on firm reputation in the eyes of the government in China when the firm is intensively connected to government intermediaries. Data for this study were collected from a large-scale on-site survey and archives of 195 firms in 32 Chinese industrial towns. Our 1,099 respondents included 975 top managers and 124 local government officers. Empirical analysis results support our theory. We also complemented our quantitative findings with qualitative evidence. We offer a new perspective for understanding humble CEOs’ influence and condition in shaping their firms’ reputational judgments.
摘要
本文探讨CEO 的谦逊品质如何以及何时提升利益相关者对企业声誉的评价。我们假设，在企业与政府附属机构联系紧密时, CEO的 谦逊品质会提升企业的品德形象进而增强企业在政府眼中的声誉。本研究数据来自中国32 个工业乡镇195 家企业的实地调研和文档资料: 共收集有效问卷1,099 份,其中975 份为企业高管填写, 124 份为地方政府工作人员填写。本文的定性证据和定量研究结果都支持了我们的假设。本文为理解CEO 谦逊品质影响企业声誉的作用机制与边界条件提供了新视角。
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- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Association for Chinese Management Research.
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