Does CEO media exposure affect corporate social responsibility?

Given the central role played by CEOs in the arena of strategic decision making, this article focuses on their impact on the implementation of socially responsible initiatives, which try to comply with the stakeholders' demands. Specifically, and drawing upon the relevant influence of media on decision makers, we analysed how CEOs' media exposure affects the development of their companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Moreover, relying mainly on the agency and stakeholder theories, we also considered a potential moderating effect of other CEO characteristics. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis carried out on a sample of 60 publicly listed Spanish companies in 2014 suggest that greater CEO media exposure can lead to a greater commitment to CSR. Furthermore, it was observed that this relationship may be affected by CEO tenure and prior political experience.