ESG Performance and Top Executive Promotion
Prof. Donghui LI
Professor, College of Economics, Shenzhen University
Date: 26 September 2024 (Thursday)
Time: 14:30 pm to 16:00 pm
Venue: E22-G008
Host: Prof. Jason XIAO, Professor in Accounting
Abstract
Based on all of the Chinese 1,737 State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) spanning the years 2010 to 2023, by manually tracking departed top executives (Chairman and CEOs) subsequent employment records, we have found that their past ESG performance in previous firms facilitates their future promotion (e.g., political promotion, or working in a larger firm, or having a higher position or higher pay). We further find that for SOEs with excellent financial performance, non-financial ESG performance facilities their top executives’ promotions more, but there is a reduced pay for both financial and non-financial ESG performance sensitivity for executives with political promotion. Furthermore, we also find that the relationship between ESG performance and top executives’ promotions is attenuated by external attention, except for pollical promotion. Overall, our results suggest that SOE’s ESG performance enhances top executives’ labor market potentials.
Speaker
Donghui Li, who obtained his PhD in Finance and worked at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia for 19 years between 1996 and 2015, is currently a Professor of Accounting and Finance at College of Economics, Shenzhen University, China. His research focuses on corporate finance and capital markets. His publications include the following papers in leading accounting and finance journals: Journal of Finance; Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
He has worldwide academic recognitions and social impacts. He is highly Cited Scholars by Policy Institutes and Think-Tank worldwide (e.g., World Bank, 7 times; International Monetary Fund, 3 times; OECD, 2 times; European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament Committees, Publications Office of the European Union, Deutsche Bundesbank, Bank of Finland, Banco Central de Paraguay, Geneva Association, 4 times; and so on). He was nominated as year 2021 & 2023 “Most Cited Chinese Scholars for Exceptional Research Performance” by “Elsevier, Shanghai Ranking, Scopus”. His research policy advice has been accepted by the “Chinese Top Administration” (5 times).
All are welcome!
