Peer pressure: how CEO behaviors can impact the adoption of CSR and its related performance

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has had a period of limelight and economic backing following decades of industrial and economic growth without any concern for the impact on society or the environment. CSR is the corporate integration of social and environmental concerns, embedded into their business processes and operations as well as in their interactions with their stakeholders, all on a voluntary basis. CSR is going beyond the legal expectations as well as going beyond compliance requirements. CSR, therefore, is the moralization and ethical boosting of corporate activities. For decades, firms have been able to behave and perform without criticism so long as they have provided products and services at the lowest possible cost. The collective race to the bottom seen across the developed West has resulted in firms across all industries focusing on cutting standards as much as possible in order to extract the maximum possible value for shareholders. The power of the shareholder has overridden almost all concerns across the corporate world and has resulted in some of the worst corporate crimes in recorded history. The growing awareness of CSR came to a head following several corporate and economic disasters in the 2000s and 2010s, including the 2007–2008 Great Recession, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the DuPont West Virginia chemical spill. Incidents such as these caused public backlash on a scale not before seen in the corporate world. Consumers began to demand more from their companies, and ethical purchasing became a force in the global economy.For a significant period, CSR initiatives were challenged by corporate leaders as being overly expensive and unnecessary, harming economic growth, investment and development. The main argument of these critics was that for firms to adopt practices which both supported societies and the environment, they would have to invest too many resources and expend too much capital to be competitive. CSR was therefore branded as too expensive and therefore the enemy of competitive advantage. What changed this position was a couple of factors: first, as more firms adopted CSR practices, the underlying systems and concepts became more widely used and therefore cheaper to buy in or use; secondly, as consumers became more aware of the damage to the environment and the issues around climate change, the more they steered away from firms which did not promote CSR and only bought from firms which were transparently embedding CSR initiatives.CEOs are the ultimate decision-makers for firms outside of the boardroom and, as the most visible element of senior leadership, are integral to the adoption of any corporate strategies. It is from the CEOs that the momentum comes for a firm to adopt CSR, and following the success of CSR adoption across industries and the global economy, more and more CEOs are turning to CSR initiatives to gain a competitive advantage. Despite remaining criticism from some corners of the corporate world that CSR is overly expensive and liable to cause damage, not boost performance, CEOs have, for a number of years, listened to the demands of consumers and turned towards CSR. Thosuwanchot and Chanphati (2025) have looked at the adoption of CSR in firms and identified three key characteristics of CEOs which impact successful adoption to the greatest extent. Underlying these three characteristics is the drive that in the current climate, inter-firm competition is more important than consumer pressure. When a firm views its own CSR initiatives as performing poorly compared to competitors, it acts as a powerful driver to boost implementation and improve CSR performance. The drive to improve, however, comes directly from the CEO. As such, the following are critical characteristics of CEOs to understand:While there are many positive indicators as to the rollout and adoption of CSR across the corporate world and the global economy, there are some obvious concerns that have arrived in 2025. The actions of the new US administration could have a profound and reductive effect on CSR initiatives and corporate adoption. The attack on DEI in US institutions and government departments is already having an effect across corporate America, and it will not be long before key international firms which deal heavily in the USA seek to also reduce their DEI work in order to gain favor with the current administration. This will likely trickle down into CSR initiatives, and given the US administration’s known rejection of climate change science, it remains to be seen if the global economy will bend to the US direction of corporate travel or will remain focused on the good impact CSR has on the world.This review is based on “Performance below social aspirations, CSR initiatives and CEO characteristics: a conceptual framework” by Nongnapat Thosuwanchot and Jitrinee Chanphati, published in the Social Responsibility Journal.