The Sustainable CEO: The Influence of CEO Gender on Consumer Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

Purpose – The following study aims to explore how CEO gender influences consumer perceptions of CSR initiatives in terms of corporate environmental protection, corporate social equity, initiative credibility, and corporate trust. Design/Methodology/Approach – This two-by-two factorial design with repeated measures utilizes a survey-experiment administered to 260 US citizens via Prolific Academic. Participants are exposed to mockup news articles detailing the CSR initiatives (environmental protection or social equity focus) of a fictitious CEO (male or female). Findings – Results indicate that CEO gender does not significantly influence consumer perceptions of CSR initiative corporate environmental protection, corporate social equity, credibility, or corporate trust. However, findings do show a significant positive relationship between initiative credibility and social equity, and social equity, environmental protection, initiative credibility and corporate trust. Originality/Value – This study expands the literature on CSR communication and CEO branding, examining through the lens of consumer perceptions of CSR initiatives based on manipulated CEO gender.