Components of CEO Power and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Role of Board Independence

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between overall and components of CEOs power and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Besides, we test the moderating influence of board independence on CEOs power and CSR relationship. We focused on public listed companies in China over a sample period of 2010–2020 with 22,182 firm-year observations. Our analysis shows that the total of CEOs power and structural power are negatively correlated with CSR, but ownership, expert and prestige power are positively correlated with CSR. Moreover, we find that board independence has different moderating effects on CEOs power and CSR.