Does executives’overseas experience improve firms’labor investment efficiency?

Based on upper echelons theory and using a sample of private Chinese A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2020,this paper studies the impact of executives’overseas experience on firms’labor investment efficiency.The results show that executives with overseas experience significantly enhance firms’labor investment efficiency.After distinguishing between different types of overseas experience,the results show that executives with only study experience or with both study and work experience abroad have a significant positive effect on firms’labor investment efficiency,while executives with only overseas work experience have no significant effect.A cross-sectional analysis based on labor adjustment costs shows that the positive impact of executives’overseas experience is more pronounced in labor-intensive firms,firms with a greater proportion of R&D investment and firms with a higher percentage of highly educated employees.The mechanism tests show that executives with overseas experience can optimize labor investment efficiency by lowering agency costs,attracting analyst attention and alleviating financing constraints under conditions of underemployment.This study enriches the literature on the characteristics of executive teams and the efficiency of labor investment,providing reference and inspiration for firms to attract more high-quality returnees and optimize their labor resource allocation.

Can returnee managers promote CSR performance？ Evidence from China

With growing economic globalization, returnee managers who have obtained education or work experience overseas play a much more crucial role in corporations, especially in emerging economies. Using hand-collected managerial background data from a sample of firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2014, this paper investigates the impact of returnee managers on corporate social responsibility （CSR） performance. We find that returnee managers can promote CSR performance. Further analyses show that the impact of returnee managers on CSR is more pronounced when managers have a foreign study background compared to managers with foreign work experience. The impact only holds when managers obtained their experience in developed economies. When enterprises face greater information asymmetry, returnee managers are more willing to use CSR as a tool to convey a positive image to stakeholders. CSR can help managers reduce information asymmetry and improve firm value. The results are robust through a series of robustness checks including a propensity score matching （PSM） procedure and a Heckman two-state sample selection model. This paper contributes to growing studies on the economic consequences of returnee managers and advances our understanding of the determinants of CSR at the individual level. The results also have implications for government and enterprises attracting talents with overseas experience.

The Impact of Top Management Team Process on Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance

This article aims to explore how top management team （TMT） process affects strategic corporate social responsibility （CSR）, and in turn, how strategic CSR influences firm performance. In addition, this article examines whether CSR mediates the relationship between TMT process and firm performance. The sample consists of 203 hotels from the tourism and hospitality industry in the southeast China. TMT processes assessed are communication and cohesion. Results indicate that （1） corporate social responsibility is positively related to firm performance, （2） top management team process （communication and cohesion） is positively related to corporate social responsibility, and （3） corporate social responsibility fully mediates the relationship between top management team process and firm performance. Results highlight upper echelons mechanisms that underpin the TMT process-firm performance relationship. This study contributes to understanding how TMT process affects firm performance both directly and indirectly, through strategic CSR.

Why Do Firms Enter into a New Niche Market？ An Integrated View of Objective and Subjective Antecedents of Strategic Decisions

Abstract This study is based on behavioral theories and has the purpose of determining the predictors and contingencies of strategic decision making within the strategic tripod framework and CEO age effect. Furthermore, we focus on the effect of the interaction of these aspects on strategic decisions. Multiple theories and concepts are applied in this paper, such as the institution-, industry-, and resource-based view, upper echelons theory, socio-emotional wealth, empathy, and so on. Specifically, we focus on why Chinese real estate firms decide to enter the aged housing market. By conducting an empirical study using panel data from 134 listed Chinese real estate companies, we make the following conclusions： Institutional pressure and competitor numbers positively affect, whereas slack harms, the likelihood of entry. Ceteris paribus, the resource effect is strongest when the institutional effect is the most significant. When facing institutional pressure, a finn with a CEO older than 50 is significantly more likely to enter the aged housing market than firms with a CEO that is younger.Relieving institutional pressure and avoiding cutthroat competition are helpful in making strategic decisions but not for digesting slack resources. The CEO makes strategic decisions by replying to institutional pressure but likely not from engagements in resource or competitive affairs.

Managers'Digital Literacy and Corporate Green Technology Innovation

This paper incorporates individual digital literacy into corporate management practice to explore the relationship between managers'digital literacy and the performance of corporate green technology innovation.The results show that managers'digital literacy can contribute to corporate green technology innovation.Specifically,a greater degree of digital literacy among the top management team is associated with better performance in corporate green technology innovation.Even if the management does not have an educational background in core digital technologies,their work experience related to core digital technologies such as computers and information technology can help promote corporate green technology innovation in the later stage.There is the heterogeneity in the managers'digital literacy role in promoting corporate green technology innovation,which is more significant in the sample of regions with low levels of the digital economy development,sufficient media attention,and non-heavily polluting enterprises.Digital transformation plays a mediating role between managers'digital literacy and corporate green technology innovation.Through further research,we find that the improvement of managers'digital literacy can contribute to the enhancement of corporate value in the future.The conclusions enrich the research horizon of upper echelons theory,explore the value and differentiated effect of digital human capital in the new era,and provide empirical evidence at the micro level that digital technologies promote the green and sustainable development of the economy.