CEO early-life experiences and corporate outcomes: a systematic literature review using the ADO model

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides an integrative framework and research agenda for studying CEO micro-foundations in ESG and strategy.

🏢実務担当者:Boards can use CEO formative experiences as inputs for executive assessment and risk oversight, particularly regarding ESG commitments.

🏛政策担当者:Regulators may consider how CEO backgrounds influence the quality and extent of sustainability reporting.

Chief executive officers' (CEOs) early-life experiences are increasingly viewed as a micro-foundation explaining why firms facing similar constraints pursue different strategies. This review consolidates extant evidence on how CEOs’ formative imprints shape corporate decisions and outcomes. Using the antecedents–decisions–outcomes (ADO) framework, this systematic literature review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses procedures. A search of Web of Science covering 2000 to July 2025 identified 65 records; after screening and eligibility checks, 45 peer-reviewed articles were retained for in-depth synthesis. The review classifies key antecedents – war and/or conflict exposure; famine, poverty and deprivation; disasters and environmental shocks; family background and birth order and military or institutional-transition imprints. These experiences are linked to managerial decision channels including risk-taking, investment and innovation, capital structure, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) engagement and disclosure and/or reporting choices. Documented outcomes span firm performance and resilience, earnings quality, crash risk, sustainability results and internationalization. Evidence suggests competing pathways: some imprints foster caution and conservative policies, while others intensify prosocial orientation and stakeholder-facing strategies. Governance arrangements and institutional context consistently condition the strength and direction of effects. The literature remains heterogeneous in measurement and identification. Future research should employ richer biographical measures, clarify boundary conditions and strengthen causal designs (e.g. quasi-experiments, validated archival proxies and triangulation across data sources). Boards and investors can incorporate CEO formative imprints into executive assessment, risk oversight and leadership-development practices while accounting for governance and institutional fit. Understanding how early-life imprints influence CSR and ESG and transparency choices can inform efforts to promote sustainable and socially responsible corporate behavior. This review provides an integrative ADO map of CEOs' early-life experiences and corporate outcomes and offers a targeted research agenda to advance cumulative theorizing in finance and strategic management.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.1108/jts-02-2026-0013first seen 2026-07-18 07:09:36