Communist CEOs and corporate sustainability: Unpacking the interplay of ideology, innovation, and power

CEOs play a critical role in shaping corporate sustainability, yet the mechanisms through which CEOs influence sustainability remain insufficiently understood. When Communist Party membership is considered as an executive attribute shaped by political socialization in the Chinese context, it remains unclear how CEOs' Communist ideology affects sustainability outcomes. To address this gap, this study, drawing on the upper echelons theory and managerial discretion literature, investigates how Communist CEOs translate their ideology into corporate sustainability performance through the pathways of innovation. Using 7645 observations with 1633 Chinese firms from 2012 to 2021, the analysis reveals that Communist CEOs significantly enhance environmental and social performance, and such effects are partly mediated by green, digital and integrated green-digital innovation. In addition, CEO duality strengthens the relationship between innovation and corporate sustainability performance by expanding managerial discretion. This study unpacks the black box between Communist CEOs' ideology and corporate sustainability by identifying innovation as a key explanatory pathway, and it offers implications for aligning executive ideology, leadership power, and innovation in the pursuit of sustainability performance. • Communist CEOs translate their ideology into corporate sustainability performance. • Green, digital, and integrated green-digital innovation are important pathways. • CEO power enables innovation to enhance corporate sustainability performance. • Corporate sustainability hinges on the alignment of ideology, innovation, and executive power.