商学悦道论坛
2026年第4期，总第76期
讲座题目：Privilege and Prejudice: Shareholder Primacy and Social Class in CEO Selection
主讲人：Abhinav Gupta，华盛顿大学讲席教授
时间：2026年5月27日，15:30-17:00
地点：A618
报告摘要：
How does the social class background of CEO contenders relate to their prospects of ascending to the apex of the corporate hierarchy? Integrating research on CEO succession with system justification theory, we suggest that directors may be more inclined to favor upper-class candidates over competitors from more modest backgrounds. We further theorize that this advantage varies with firms’ governance orientation along the shareholder primacy–stakeholder spectrum. Using four manifestations of governance orientation—espoused commitments, prior adoption of consonant practices, collective bargaining agreements, and concentrated affluent ownership—we show that shareholder primacy is associated with a stronger upper-class advantage, whereas stakeholder orientation is associated with its attenuation. Analyses of 228 succession contests at major US firms lend support to these predictions.
主讲人讲解：
Abhinav Gupta is a Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. He earned his Ph.D. from the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University. His work examines how political and social forces shape organizations, with particular attention to political ideology, corporate social responsibility, and governance. He currently serves as a Senior Editor at Organization Science.
