Corporate social performance and ethnicity: A comparison between Malay and Chinese chief executives in Malaysia

The call for corporate social responsibility is steadily escalating in the corporate agenda. Previous studies on the determinants of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) point to factors including the size of firms and the nature of industries, as well as the commitment of the leadership. This study explores how attributes of chief executives in Malaysia may affect the formulation and implementation of socially responsible policies and programmes of organizations. The suggestion is that companies with Malay chief executives demonstrate higher corporate social performance levels than companies with Chinese chief executives; and that the age of chief executives is a significant predictor of the CSP level. However, the education background of the chief executives has no noticeable effect on the level of CSP.