Having a daughter affects the way CEOs run their companies, according to research by Henrik Conqvist, PhD, and Frank Yu, PhD.
Dr. Conqvist and Dr. Yu studied the decision-making behavior of almost 400 CEOs of large U.S. corporations. Between them, the CEOs had a total of 1,000 children.
The authors found that having a daughter, especially if she was born first, affects a CEO's corporate social responsibility. CSR encompasses how women and minorities are treated and whether companies provide flexible hours and childcare. Overall, the CSR was better at companies run by CEOs with daughters. Male CEOs with daughters were almost a third more likely to make CSR decisions similar to those made by a female CEO.
CEOs with daughters show a stronger attachment to society at large and greater concern for the well-being of stakeholders, authors found.
Interestingly, CEOs with sons were not linked to the same results and CSR behaviors.