The impact of CEO attributes on sustainability performance: evidence from an emerging economy

Purpose This study aims to empirically examine the influence of CEO characteristics on the sustainability performance of listed banks in Bangladesh through the lens of upper echelons theory. Design/methodology/approach The authors estimated sustainability performance score based on a hand collected data set from the annual report and sustainability reports of the Bangladeshi listed banks. Following Clarkson et al. (2008), the sustainability index developed by Ong et al. (2016) and the G4 sustainability reporting standards of the global reporting initiative (GRI), a unique scoring index was developed to gather and assess sustainability data from listed banks. A panel regression analysis model is used to investigate the impact of CEO attributes on sustainability performance. Findings The findings of this study reveal that higher academic qualifications, greater industry experience and a longer tenure of the CEO have a significant and positive impact on the sustainable performance of the Bangladeshi listed banks. Furthermore, this study reveals that Bangladeshi listed banks are considerably behind in implementing the sustainability recommendations of Bangladesh Bank. Originality/value This study provides new evidence of how CEOs’ attributes can affect the sustainability reporting of Bangladeshi listed banks. Furthermore, this study measures the real contribution towards sustainability performance compared with the general claims about sustainability made by listed banks in Bangladesh.