CEO personal experiences and innovation conservatism: Evidence from China

Abstract

AbstractResearch question/issueThis paper studies the relationship between chief executive officers' (CEOs) personal experiences and corporate innovation in China.Research findings/insightsWe find that CEOs' famine and military experiences adversely impact firm innovation outcomes. In particular, our channel tests show that CEOs with famine experience adversely affect firm innovation by reducing both R&D expenditures and innovation efficiency, whereas CEOs with military experience hinder innovation mainly by reducing research staff.Theoretical/academic implicationsOur results imply that innovation conservatism in some firms may be partly explained by individual CEO's early‐life personal experiences. Our study thus has broader implications for the differences in management style across corporate executives who go through different experiences.Practitioner/policy implicationsOur findings provide important insights for policy makers, suggesting that they should consider CEOs' early‐life exposure to different experiences as important “soft information” when evaluating firms' innovation potential for government subsidies.