The Performativity Paradox: When Ethical Performativity Backfires in Business Schools

Abstract Drawing on a research tradition that regards utterances as performative, we investigate the lasting influence of business schools' business ethical performativity (BEP) on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of firms led by CEOs who graduated from their (E)MBA programmes. Using machine‐learning techniques, we construct a BEP indicator and analyse the ESG performance of 443 A‐share listed firms in China from 2009 to 2023. Our findings reveal an inverted U‐shaped relationship between business schools' BEP and the ESG performance of the firms led by their (E)MBA graduates. Specifically, moderate levels of BEP facilitate the cultivation of responsible managers, whereas excessive BEP can result in performative failure. We further examine the conditions under which ethical imprints shaped by business schools’ BEP are formed, attenuated over time, and are reactivated in later organizational contexts by external environmental conditions, such as media attention, thereby exerting weaker or stronger influences on the cultivation of responsible managers. Taken together, our findings provide novel insights into how business schools can leverage performative discourse to develop responsible managers and contribute to more desirable societal outcomes.