基地副主任吕勇斌教授的论文“The dark side of integrity:a case of risk-taking”在重要学术期刊Journal of Accounting Literature发表。

摘要：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.

关键词：Executive integrity, Risk preference, Corporate policies, Firm risk-taking

论文链接：https://doi.org/10.1108/JAL-05-2025-0234

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。在《金融研究》《财政研究》及Finance Research Letters、China Finance Review International等国内外核心期刊发表多篇论文（含JCR Q1、IF 9.0成果），出版《数字普惠金融：理论逻辑与经济效应》等多部专著与教材，主持或参与国家社科基金重大项目、一般项目及多项政府与企业委托课题，成果多次获省级优秀成果奖、咨政报告获省级领导签批，同时多次指导学生在全国性竞赛中斩获大奖，个人荣获“科研新星”“优秀党员”等多项荣誉称号。