Topic: Good deeds gone bad: The unintended effects of CSR engagement on tournament participants’ reporting behavior
Speaker: Kuang Xi, Professor of Georgia Institute of Technology
Host: Di Lulu, School of Accounting
Time: June 14, 15:00--16:30
Location: Room 650, Chengzheng Building
Organizers: School of Accounting, Research Office
Speaker’s Profile:
Professor Kuang Xi, holding a tenured position in the field of Accounting at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, is a prominent figure in behavioral accounting research. Focusing on the application of behavioral science theories and experimental methodologies, Professor Kuang's work illuminates the combined influences of economic and psychological elements on accounting decision-making processes.
His scholarly accomplishments span across several academic domains, with published works appearing in leading journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society from the accounting discipline; the Journal of Legal Studies in legal studies; Business Ethics Quarterly in business ethics; and in top-tier economic publications including the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Economic Theory.
Professor Kuang has been a valuable member of editorial boards for elite accounting journals, including TAR, CAR, and AOS, contributing significantly to the review process. His expertise is further tapped into as a reviewer for highly regarded journals in accounting, management, and economics, for instance, TAR, AER, AMJ, MS, CAR, and AOS. Additionally, he has lent their expertise as a panel reviewer for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and as an evaluator for key laboratory establishment projects under the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.
Lecture Preview：
We experimentally investigate whether losing (versus winning) in tournament incentive settings increases employees’ tendency to misreport their performance in unrelated tasks. We predict that losing a tournament threatens self-esteem, potentially motivating employees to restore self-esteem through misreporting their performance. More importantly, while prior research highlights the positive effects of employee engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR), we propose that CSR engagement can exacerbate the misreporting behavior of tournament losers due to a “moral license” effect. As predicted, we find that, without CSR engagement, the level of misreporting does not differ significantly between tournament losers and winners, whereas with CSR engagement, tournament losers are more likely to misreport than winners. Mediation analysis confirms that the threat to self-esteem underlies these effects. Evidence from a supplemental study further supports our theory. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
