Abstract

While previous research in upper echelons theory has attempted to understand how managerial characteristics influence organizational criteria, few have directly investigated the effects of personality and leadership on these outcomes and in particular, on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This dissertation addresses the previous concern by investigating how the Five Factor Model of personality influences CSR engagement when mediated by servant leadership in top managers. While previous studies have primarily investigated servant leadership at the micro level of analysis, this study investigates this relatively underexplored concept at the executive level. Using a sample of 101 chief executive officers (CEOs) of the largest S&P 500 organizations, I found that four of the Big Five personality traits had an indirect effect on strategic CSR when servant leadership served as an intervening mechanism on this relationship. Moreover, this indirect effect varies depending on which facet of servant leadership is being investigated. For instance, I found that servant leadership has a stronger indirect effect on the personality-CSR relationship primarily through the dimension of building community and subordinate support as opposed to other dimensions of this concept. These findings reinforce previous research in this domain that servant leaders emphasize subordinate development and provide stewardship to multiple stakeholders both inside and outside of the organization. Overall, the findings in this study offer further insight not only into the antecedents of servant leadership, but on its effects on CSR as well. Finally, limitations and avenues for future research are further discussed.