This might surprise you but a new study has found that CEOs who are socially conscientious may be better leaders, according to newswise.com.
A researcher at Cal State Fullerton says at the site that she believes that a company CEO "who is involved in pro-social responsibility has a greater chance of making beneficial corporate decisions and being better leaders."
Zhejia Ling, assistant accounting professor at Cal State Fullerton, says at the site that her research shows that a "prosocial person is someone who is concerned about the well-being of others."
In her upcoming study, appearing in the Review of Accounting Studies, Ling notes that she discovered that executives engaging in “prosocial” behavior – that is, supporting philanthropic organizations or similar activities that help others – are more likely to make corporate decisions that benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including employees, customers and the society and increase corporate value.
"Because a prosocial CEO has a positive effect on a range of stakeholders, this type of leadership can uplift and guide the organization effectively," the website quotes her.
“Prosocial CEOs make decisions that have positive impacts on different aspects of the company, which include decreased employee turnover, higher customer satisfaction and more socially responsible activities. “It is part of who a person is. It is an innate personality trait developed as early as childhood and built over time.”
She's not the only one thinking that way. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is being implemented in businesses all over the world, According to Business Roundtable, at communityimpactfund.org, in America, a community of CEOs who are committed to running their businesses in a socially responsible way advocate policies that create jobs, strengthen the economy, and take responsibility for creating high-quality jobs with livable wages." Members include CEOs from IBM Corporation and Adobe to UPS and PayPal.
The problem is that most companies do not fully understand the correlation between their financial success and profitability and their community impact as it relates to their own value chain, the site points out. "As a result, most CSR programs are run as a side initiative as a way for the organization to 'do good' without much thought about how it helps the company 'do well' or grow as a result, the story continues.
The point of all this? As long as these two ideals of growing an organization and having community impact are not understood as having a symbiotic relationship, CSR programs will continue to play a supporting role to the business instead of being the primary purpose.
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