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While past studies have enriched our understanding of the impact of returnee executives on firm market strategy and outcomes, we know relatively little about the relationship between returnee executives and firm nonmarket strategies. Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study explores the relationship between returnee executives and corporate philanthropy, the latter of which is an important nonmarket strategy in emerging economies such as China. Using data on publicly listed Chinese companies from 2010 to 2017, we find that the proportion of returnee executives is negative related to corporate philanthropy. We also find that this negative relationship is strengthened by executive ownership, but weakened by corporate prominence and political connections. Our study makes important theoretical contributions to strategic leadership research, upper echelons theory, and the literature of corporate philanthropy. The managerial implications are also discussed.

Purpose On the basis of the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), this study aims to introduce the moderating role of firm internationalization to explore whether and when financial performance shortfalls and innovation performance shortfalls influence firms’ decisions to hire returnee executives. Design/methodology/approach Using a comprehensive database of Chinese nonstate-owned listed manufacturing companies from 2011 to 2019, we conduct empirical tests to determine the credibility of our proposed theoretical hypothesis. Findings Firms eager to bolster their immediate financial standing and thus address financial performance shortfalls are typically less inclined to onboard returnee executives. In contrast, firms that focus on swiftly increasing their innovation capabilities in response to innovation performance shortfalls showcase a preference for returnee leadership. An ancillary observation is that a firm’s global footprint amplifies the positive influence of innovation performance shortfalls on its propensity to hire returnee executives. Originality/value By theorizing for the first time and providing empirical evidence that financial performance shortfalls and innovation performance shortfalls have different impacts on returnee executives, this study provides new insights into the BTOF and returnee executive literature.

Innovation is an important driving force for social and economic development, and an important way for enterprises to obtain competitive advantages in the market and realize sustainable development. The article takes 960 enterprises listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares as research samples, and utilizes the threshold regression model to explore the impact of the remuneration gap of returnee executives on the innovation ability of enterprises. After analyzing the results of the threshold panel regression, it was found that there is a double threshold effect between the remuneration gap of returnee executives and the innovation ability of enterprises. When the returnee executives’ pay gap is ≤2.463 times, the returnee executives’ pay gap has a negative impact on the innovation ability of enterprises. When the remuneration gap of returnee executives is in the range of (2.463, 4.134], the remuneration gap of returnee executives positively and significantly promotes the enterprise’s innovation ability at the 1% level. When the remuneration gap between returnee executives is higher than 4.134 times, it has a negative impact on the performance of enterprise innovation ability at the 1% level. Therefore, enterprises need to set a reasonable salary gap range when introducing returnee executives, which can not only motivate the innovation enthusiasm of returnee executives but also eliminate the negative emotions of employees, thus effectively promoting the development of enterprise innovation ability.

In this paper, the innovation patent data of 344 Chinese Global Exchange Market (GEM) listed companies from 2014 to 2018 is manually collected, and the effect of returnee technology executives (RTEs) on enterprise innovativeness is examined based on the empirical theory of the high ladder team. The study finds that RTEs promote enterprise innovation and that this effect persists after controlling for endogeneity and self-selection problems. By comparing the difference in the effect of RTEs on breakthrough innovation and non-breakthrough innovation, the study found that RTEs had a more significant role in promoting enterprise breakthrough innovation. Furthermore, through executive group analysis, it is found that Returnee Technology Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have more potently positive effect on promoting enterprise innovation especially breakthrough innovation and RTEs exert greater prominence in fostering innovation in companies across developed coastal areas. The research theoretically expands and deepens the investigation on the rapport between enterprise executive characteristics and innovation, highlights the importance of the human capital of overseas returnees in practice, and has a certain guiding significance for enterprise talent introduction policies.

Our study finds that relative to firms managed by local CEOs, firms managed by CEOs who have returned from overseas (returnee CEOs) exhibit significantly higher audit fees. We also find this positive association to be stronger for returnee CEOs who manage firms with greater agency problems, have overseas experience in countries with better developed institutions, or have greater business knowledge. Further analyses indicate that firms managed by returnee CEOs tend to exhibit better financial reporting quality, lower propensities for financial fraud, and fewer earnings restatements in subsequent years. In addition, firms managed by returnee CEOs are associated with greater internationalization and higher propensities for seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) than firms managed by local CEOs. Overall, our findings are most consistent with the conjecture that returnees tend to bring ethics and practices that ensure higher financial reporting quality back to their home countries. Our findings offer a plausible explanation that returnee talents could increase firm value.

Drawing on imprinting theory and upper echelons theory, this study addresses how enterprises in emerging economies overcome low heterogeneity in ethical and causal cognitions through CEOs’ cross-border mobility to accelerate corporate green innovation. Using longitudinal data from 1270 Chinese publicly listed industrial companies from 2009 to 2018, we find that returnee CEOs (CEOs with foreign experience) positively affect corporate green innovation. This correlation is stronger for CEOs with deeper imprints from their overseas experience (i.e., going abroad for work instead of study and staying abroad in countries with high environmental awareness) and for CEOs with high managerial discretion (i.e., those with CEO duality or in highly competitive industries). Our research sheds light on how executives reestablish their ethical and causal cognitions through overseas experiences and the conditions under which the reestablished cognitions are greatly reflected in firm strategic choices for green innovation in emerging countries.

Purpose Little attention has been given to the effects of returnee entrepreneurs on external and internal corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study aims to investigate whether returnee entrepreneurs engage in more external or internal CSR and to further explore the contingency effects of foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement. Design/methodology/approach This study uses 11,967 startups in China to examine the relationship between returnee entrepreneurs and external and internal CSR. The authors use an ordinary least square regression and propensity scoring matching approach to analyze the data. Findings The empirical results show that returnee entrepreneurs are more likely to undertake external CSR but less likely to undertake internal CSR. Foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement have opposite moderating effects on these relationships. Practical implications This study has important implications for returnee entrepreneurs’ strategic choice between external and internal CSR and also provides theoretical support for policymakers to make effective and enforceable CSR policies. Originality/value This study discusses how returnee entrepreneurs implement external or internal CSR in China, answering the call to distinguish between external and internal CSR. Drawing on a legitimacy perspective, the authors find interesting and seemingly counterintuitive effects of returnees on external and internal CSR, which also necessitates distinguishing between these two types of CSR. In addition, the authors find different moderating roles of foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement.

This study applies a panel threshold regression model to reconcile the inconsistent findings about returnee chief executive officer (CEO) effects on enterprise innovation using the environmental uncertainty as the threshold variable and panel data from 187 publicly traded electronic firms in China for the period 2012–2016. The empirical results suggest that a significant double threshold effect does exist, showing an inverted-U correlation between returnee CEO and innovation. Specifically, a returnee CEO significantly promotes innovation at moderate levels of environmental uncertainty but significantly hinders innovation when the environmental uncertainty surpasses the larger threshold value, which contradicts much of the previous literature. This research enriches the scholarship on returnee CEOs and lays a theoretical foundation that firms can use in corporate governance. If firms pay more attention to environmental uncertainty while formulating new CEO introduction policies, substantial innovation ability can be improved at moderate levels of environmental uncertainty.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of returnee managers on Chinese firms’ performances at overseas markets. Design/methodology/approach By hand collecting two data set containing managers’ foreign experiences and firms’ principal customers, this study empirically examines the relationship between returnee managers and overseas customers. Findings The author shows that firms with returnee managers: have higher probability of gaining overseas customers and proportion of overseas sales; and are more likely to conduct international M&A, adopt international Big 4 auditors and list overseas. In addition, returnee executives who came back from individualistic culture with overseas working experience, when entering the overseas market where they have experienced, are more effectively in helping firms to perform well. Research limitations/implications The findings in this study suggest that firms with returnee managers are better able to develop relationships with overseas customers and expand overseas markets than those firms without returnee managers. Practical implications For policy makers, this study justifies government policies that aim to attract and encourage more returnees to come back. Furthermore, the author shows that returnees with different foreign experiences, national culture of different countries, whether doing business with their familiar foreign country, and their positions in current organizations have different effects on overseas customers. Firms can utilize all these information to choose the “right” returnees to increase their success in overseas markets. Originality/value This study is among the first to examine the role of returnee managers in an emerging economy on firm’s probability of gaining overseas customers and expanding overseas sales.

Adopting a knowledge-based perspective and embeddedness theory, this study examines the impact of reverse knowledge spillovers from local Chinese firms to foreign firms using a sample of high-tech firms in Zhongguancun Science Park in China. It also investigates whether returnees in foreign firms help bridge knowledge gaps between local firms and foreign firms. The results show that the presence of returnee CEOs and returnee employees enhances the impact of reverse technological and marketing spillovers on the innovation and financial performance of foreign firms. The findings call for more studies on the social dimensions of knowledge spillovers across international boundaries and have important theoretical and practical implications.