Poverty Gives Rise to the Desire for Innovation? The Impact and Boundary Conditions of CEO Childhood Poverty on Firm Innovation

Abstract

This study explores the impact of Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs’) childhood poverty on firm innovation investment through a two-stage survey of 430 Chinese firms. Integrating upper echelons and imprinting theories, it reveals a positive association between a CEO’s early economic hardship and their firm’s innovation strategy. The influence is moderated by adult experiences, such as education and health, and firm innovation advantages, offering a nuanced view of the interactive effects between the present and the past experiences. We contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of executives’ private imprint persistence and decay over time.

Keywords: CEOs' childhood poverty, Innovation investment, Upper echelons theory, Imprinting theory