CEO moral names and ESG performance: the “inverted U-shaped” moderating effect of media coverage

Purpose Environmental, social and governance (ESG) has gradually become a consensus for firms to pursue sustainable development, but the research on the influencing factors of ESG is still in the ascendant. As a key decision-maker, whether CEO characteristics can improve ESG performance is worthy of attention. Based on the cultural background that Chinese names are deeply influenced by Confucianism, this study aims to introduce self-construal theory to explore the impact of CEO moral name on ESG performance and the moderating effect of CEO media coverage. Design/methodology/approach To seek empirical support for the theoretical perspectives, this study uses the data of 26,880 firm-year observations of China’s A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2023, controls the fixed effects of year, industry and region and clusters them to the firm level. A series of endogeneity tests such as the analysis employed instrumental variable, propensity score matching and replacement of the regression model. Findings The results indicate that CEOs with moral names gain self-identity from the three levels of “individual-self”, “relational-self” and “collective-self”, which subsequently influences ESG performance. Additionally, media coverage has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between CEO moral names and ESG performance. Originality/value This study expands a useful and novel research framework of self-construal theory to better understand the impact of CEO moral names on ESG performance, enriching the antecedents of ESG performance and the strategic consequences of moral names.