This chapter explores a certain line of critical analysis according to which one can proceed to undermine the claim that judgments approving freedom, and standards upholding human rights, are culturally relativistic and cannot possibly have any universal validity. This exploration begins with a...

In this study, we follow the strategy typology proposed by Treacy and Wiersema (1995) and develop a textual measure of firms’ generic strategy along three dimensions: product leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. Product-leadership firms emphasize innovation and confront...

A bulk of extant literature suggests that corruption impedes innovation. However, we document the opposite evidence in China—corruption in the form of greasing money enhances corporate innovation outcomes. Our identification strategy exploits China’s anti-corruption campaign as a shock to...

In this study, we examine how business strategies affect compensation contracting and performance evaluation. Using textual measures of business strategies derived from corporate 10-K filings, we find that firms adopting the operational excellence strategy place a higher compensation weight on...

Neuropsychological studies propose that listeners unconsciously assess speakers’ trustworthiness via their facial expressions. Building on this theory, we investigate how investors respond to CEOs’ dynamic hemifacial asymmetry of expressions (HFAsy) shown on CNBC’s video interviews about...

We show that executives in the Chinese listed firms make politically motivated investments to build political ties. We also find that excessive investments are more pronounced in firms that can benefit more from political connections (e.g., private firms and poorly governed firms). Although such...

We document that Chinese city officials are more likely to be promoted if firms under their jurisdictions receive less negative media coverage towards their term-ends. Consequently, local officials suppress negative news of local companies at their term-ends. Such distortion worsens the...

We demonstrate that firm leaders’ personal traits formed from their early life experiences affect employees’ behavior and performance at work. In the context of securities companies in China, we show that chairpersons’ adolescent experience as “sent-down youths”(SDYs) during the...