While corporate philanthropic disaster response (CPDR) has become a prominent practice in modern society, a fundamental question concerning how firms are able to commit to philanthropic activities under the challenge of resource shortage remains largely unanswered. This study aims to propose and test a novel mechanism about transcendent leadership. Specially, the authors argue that firm managers’ transcendent leadership attenuates the negative association between disease severity and CPDR through the underlying mechanism of strategic flexibility, in terms of both coordination flexibility and resource flexibility.
The authors leverage the outbreak of COVID-19 in China as the research context. The results, which are based on the first-hand survey data from 828 Chinese firms with the secondhand census data, provide corroborating evidence for the theoretical predictions.
Firms with transcendent leaders are more likely to engage in CPDR, even in regions with severe disease outbreaks. Both coordination and resource flexibility mediate the relationship between transcendent leadership and CPDR, confirming the underlying mechanisms.
This research introduces transcendent leadership as a critical factor in corporate social responsibility (CSR) during crises. It also uncovers the mediating role of strategic flexibility, providing a deeper understanding of how leadership influences CSR outcomes. The findings of this research illustrate the microfoundations of CPDR behavior and contributes to the leadership-CSR literature.
