Department of Management, Business School, The Chinese U. of Hong Kong,HK, Hong Kong
Considering the significant impact of companies engaging in contentious sociopolitical matters, existing research has provided valuable insights into the antecedents of corporate activism. However, our understanding of CEOs’ role in this process remains limited. This study examines the responses of racial minority CEOs to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social movement. Drawing on attribution theory, we propose that minority CEOs may potentially attribute the causality of Blacks’ disadvantages to insufficient personal efforts rather than an unequal external social system, making them less likely to respond to the BLM movement. Achieving high status despite racial discrimination leads them to believe that opportunities for self-improvement are accessible to Black individuals, who can capitalize on such opportunities to ascend the social ladder as they have. Consequently, they tend to underestimate the disadvantages caused by racism and are less inclined to advocate for their firms’ engagement in radical social activism against racial discrimination. In line with attribution theory, we also hypothesize that this attributional bias will be amplified when racial discrimination is perceived as controllable and the disadvantaged situation as unstable. Our study identifies a novel and crucial antecedent of corporate activism while shedding light on the perpetuation of racial discrimination and inequality.