基地副主任吕勇斌教授（第一作者）与研究员杨国超教授、国外学术骨干林秉旋教授、中南财经政法大学金融学院罗勇博博士（通讯作者）的合作论文在Journal of Accounting Literature在线发表。JAL是ABS三星期刊，中南财经政法大学认定的B类期刊。

Purpose

While executive integrity is widely regarded as a valuable trait that enhances firm value, a critical puzzle remains: why do many firms still underinvest in executives with high integrity? This study explores this paradox by examining the unintended consequences of executive integrity on corporate risk-taking.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on behavioral consistency theory (which posits cross-domain consistency in individual behavior) and regulatory focus theory (which links high integrity to a prevention focus prioritizing loss avoidance), we argue that executives with high integrity may exhibit risk aversion, leading to a reduction in corporate risk-taking. Our textual measure of executive integrity is derived from machine learning analysis of annual reports of Chinese listed firms (2000–2020), and corporate risk-taking is measured based on return on asset volatility and stock return volatility. The hypothesis is examined using regression analysis, followed by robustness tests.

Findings

We find that firms led by high-integrity executives demonstrate significantly lower risk-taking. This effect is manifested through conservative corporate policies, including reduced M&A activities, lower leverage, higher liquidity, decreased R&D investment and less risky executive compensation. Furthermore, we find that the risk-taking propensity that executives face in their external environment, chairman tenure and analyst attention decrease, while a harsh environment increases the negative impact of executive integrity on firm risk-taking. Importantly, we show that such reduced risk-taking deviates from optimality: high-integrity executives weaken firms' capital allocation efficiency.

Originality/value

Our research uncovers a dark side of executive integrity, which offers new insights for corporate governance, particularly in executive selection and risk oversight.

教师简介

吕勇斌，中南财经政法大学金融学院副院长，教授、博导，数字技术与现代金融学科创新引智基地副主任。主要研究方向：数字金融、气候金融、普惠金融。

罗勇博，中南财经政法大学金融学院博士研究生。主要研究方向：公司金融。

杨国超，中南财经政法大学会计学院教授、博导，数字技术与现代金融学科创新引智基地研究员。主要研究方向：宏观的经济金融政策、中观的资本市场制度安排以及微观企业行为决策之间的互动关系。

林秉旋，美国罗德岛大学金融学教授、博导，数字技术与现代金融学科创新引智基地国外学术骨干。主要研究方向：企业并购、公司治理、信息披露、中国资本市场以及行为金融等领域。