Predicting primary and secondary stakeholder engagement: A CEO motivation-means contingency model

Our research predicts different stakeholder engagement emphases through a CEO motivation-means contingency model. Drawing upon regulatory focus and power theories, we argue that higher levels of CEO prevention focus and informal power (firm experience, knowledge, and board connections) are associated with stronger primary stakeholder engagement, whereas higher levels of CEO promotion focus and formal power (CEO duality and equity ownership) are associated with stronger secondary stakeholder engagement. By analyzing a panel dataset of S&P 500 firms, we found support for our hypotheses. These findings accentuate our contributions by emphasizing the importance of considering both CEO motivation (regulatory focus) and means (power) to understand how CEOs’ characteristics influence their firms’ stakeholder engagement. Our study extends recent work in the strategy and upper echelons literatures by showing that executives’ regulatory focus does not operate in a vacuum; rather, its effects on managerial decision-making and firm strategies are context-specific.