This paper examines whether CEO (Chief Executive Officer) career concerns affect ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investments and finds a positive relationship between them. More specifically, we find empirical evidence that CEOs with shorter tenure, more outside opportunities, and more long-term oriented compensation structure are more likely to invest in ESG investments as they have greater career concerns. Furthermore, we find that this positive relationship between CEO career concerns and ESG investments is less evident in overpaid CEOs or states that adopt Corporate Opportunity Waivers (COW) law. These results indicate that extrinsic motivation can affect ESG investments when CEOs face significant career concerns.

本文考察了 CEO（首席执行官）的职业担忧是否会影响 ESG（环境、社会和治理）投资，并发现它们之间存在正相关关系。更具体地说，我们发现经验证据表明，任期较短、外部机会较多、薪酬结构更长期的 CEO 更有可能投资于 ESG 投资，因为他们对职业生涯有更大的担忧。此外，我们发现，CEO 职业生涯担忧与 ESG 投资之间的这种正相关关系在薪酬过高的 CEO 或采用企业机会豁免 (COW) 法的州中不太明显。这些结果表明，当 CEO 面临重大职业问题时，外在动机会影响 ESG 投资。