Alexandre Duarte and Patrícia Dias
Following Howard Bowen's legacy for responsible business practices, together with the actual growing pressure of societal problems, such as climate change, social inequality…
Abstract
Following Howard Bowen's legacy for responsible business practices, together with the actual growing pressure of societal problems, such as climate change, social inequality, geopolitics instability, etc., business leaders all around the world are being asked, if not demanded, to show and act as action persons who effectively contribute to a better common value creation. This confluence of situations has led to many CEOs feeling pressured to take a stand in sociopolitical themes, many times outside their businesses' areas, which have become known as CEO activism.
This study aimed to explore if and how this international growing trend is manifesting in the Portuguese context, by exploring the perspective of Portuguese CEOs on the topic, the course of action that they are taking, and how they evaluate risks and opportunities.
For these purposes, we implemented a qualitative methodology based on interviews to 24 Portuguese CEOs and used thematic analysis to explore them. Our findings reveal that, although Portuguese CEOs are aware of this trend, they acknowledge both risks and opportunities, and their activism is still incipient. Plus, they strongly believe that CEO activism must be aligned with the values and mission of the organization they represent. Finally, Portuguese CEOs are convinced of activism being genuine, and therefore should be first implemented within the organization, which is where most of them focus their action. Our work provides an original mapping of the CEO activism landscape in Portugal and an insightful discussion of the CEO's perspective on this growing phenomenon.