Proceedings of the 2025 SSEME workshop on Social Sciences and Education (SSEME-SSE 2025)

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Comparing the Impact of CEOs Holding an S&E Degree and Engineer Title on Firm Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Chinese A-Share Listed Computer Companies

Authors
Dapeng Liang1, Hengyi Shen1, *, Jiayin Sun2, Mengyi Xu3
1School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
2School of Humanities, Social Sci, & Law, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
3Department of Management, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
*Corresponding author. Email: shy2021phd@163.com
Corresponding Author
Hengyi Shen
Available Online 18 August 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-454-9_2How to use a DOI?
Keywords
CEO Characteristics; Imprinting; SOE; Technological Innovation; Upper Echelons
Abstract

In an era where technological innovation is a key driver of firm performance, the role of a CEO’s educational background and professional title in shaping this innovation becomes crucial. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the differential impacts of a CEO’s Science and Engineering (S&E) degree and the title of ‘engineer’ on firm technological innovation, particularly in the context of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Using patent data from 388 Chinese listed companies in the computer industry between 2016 and 2021, we investigate how CEOs with technological expertise influence their firms’ innovation. Our findings reveal that CEOs with an S&E degree exert a more positive impact on technological innovation than those with an ‘engineer’ title. This difference in impact is more pronounced in SOEs. Our study underscores the greater influence of educational background over work experience in innovation decision-making for CEOs. It also highlights potential shortcomings in the professional title system of ‘engineer’, especially within SOEs. These findings have significant implications for firm innovation strategies and talent management, particularly in the context of SOEs.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 SSEME workshop on Social Sciences and Education (SSEME-SSE 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
18 August 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-454-9
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-454-9_2How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Dapeng Liang
AU  - Hengyi Shen
AU  - Jiayin Sun
AU  - Mengyi Xu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/08/18
TI  - Comparing the Impact of CEOs Holding an S&E Degree and Engineer Title on Firm Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Chinese A-Share Listed Computer Companies
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 SSEME workshop on Social Sciences and Education (SSEME-SSE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 11
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-454-9_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-454-9_2
ID  - Liang2025
ER  -