2.1 Imprinting theory and government imprinting

Initially proposed by Stinchcombe [31], the imprinting theory suggests that the characteristics imprinted on organizations and individuals during sensitive periods persistently influence their behavior and decision-making patterns, even in dynamic environments [32]. Specifically, the theory entails three aspects: (1) the sensitive period, during which organizations and individuals are susceptible to external influences while undergoing transition; (2) the imprinting process, whereby organizations and individuals subconsciously adopt the behavior and decision-making patterns imparted by the environment during interaction; and (3) the persistent effect of imprints despite subsequent changes in the environment [19, 20].

Marquis and Tilcsik [20] indicate that early career experiences significantly impact individuals’ career trajectories. These early experiences promote enterprise development, as observed in widely studied areas such as financial experience [33], entrepreneurial experience [34], and marketing experience [2]. However, research on the impact of non-commercial experiences, such as military experience [15], on enterprise development is relatively limited. Current studies primarily focus on the effects of CEOs’ commercial experiences on enterprise development, while exploration of non-commercial experiences, particularly government work experience, must be improved. CEOs with government work experience can provide unique advantages for enterprise development, such as enhanced policy understanding and influence, as well as risk management and coping abilities [35, 36]. Therefore, this area warrants further attention.

Individuals working in government departments are referred to as civil servants. Civil servants are the executors of government policies and constitute the leading force in public administration and social governance [36, 37]. They are widely distributed across party and government organs, government departments, public institutions, and grassroots mass autonomous organizations. When civil servants leave government departments and enter the enterprise sector, they exhibit decision-making behavior characterized by governmental work, known as government imprinting.

Government imprinting is a multistage process primarily shaping individuals’ behavior and decision-making through structure, cognition, and culture [19]. First, during individuals’ sensitive periods, there is a restructuring of roles at the structural level. Approximately 70% of talents recruited by government departments are university graduates, a phase coinciding with the early stages of their careers, also known as the sensitive period in imprinting theory [19, 20]. Individuals are more likely to accept and adapt to new work patterns and embrace government departments’ missions and responsibilities [38], thus undergoing structural role restructuring. Second, cognitive reshaping is used during the imprinting process. Governments at all levels select talents through rigorous and standardized procedures such as written tests, political reviews, and interviews [39, 40]. Precisely, written tests assess individuals’ stress-coping abilities and basic civil service knowledge, while political reviews examine their ideological qualities and interpersonal attitudes [41]. Interviews assess individuals’ comprehensive qualities, including knowledge, abilities, and ethics [40]. Through the complete selection process, individuals undergo cognitive reshaping. Third, after imprint formation, there is continuous cultural influence. Government departments regularly conduct training activities such as education on party discipline and history and specialized training to enhance capabilities [42, 43]. These activities convey the concept of serving the people and building a service-oriented government to individuals in diverse forms, thus maintaining continuous cultural influence.

Simsek et al. [19] further suggest that it undergoes dynamic changes after imprint formation, including imprints persist, amplify, decay, and transform. Civil servants are highly esteemed by the public due to their rigorous selection and professional training, responsibility for managing public resources, direct service to the public, and stable employment with favorable welfare benefits [44]. When individuals leave government departments and become CEOs of enterprises, their perception of status changes, affecting the effectiveness of government imprinting. Therefore, leveraging imprinting theory, we examine the impact of CEOs with governmental work experience on enterprise investment in pollution control and explore the moderating role of status perception.

2.2 CEOs’ government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control

The imprinting theory posits that traits developed during an individual’s sensitive period have a lasting influence on their future behavior and decision-making [19, 20]. Government imprinting, a specific application of imprinting theory, refers to how experiences in government shape individuals’ subsequent decision-making patterns. CEOs with government work experience tend to exhibit unique behavior in enterprise investment in pollution control, which can be categorized into three aspects:

First, from a structural perspective, government work experience provides CEOs with a comprehensive framework for public management, particularly in risk management and crisis response. CEOs who possess government imprinting accumulate significant experience in managing environmental risks and public crises during their tenure in government [45, 46]. This background is instrumental when they transition into enterprise leadership roles, enabling them to recognize and address the long-term risks associated with environmental pollution, including legal, reputational, and financial vulnerabilities [47, 48]. Consequently, at the structural level, government imprinting encourages these CEOs to prioritize increased enterprise investment in pollution control initiatives to mitigate potential external risks.

Second, from a cognitive perspective, the mental frameworks developed through government work experience provide CEOs with distinct advantages in comprehending and responding to environmental policies and regulations [49]. During their early careers, the rigorous policy formulation and implementation processes within governmental contexts profoundly shaped their sensitivity to and foresight regarding environmental regulations. This heightened policy awareness enables them to anticipate regulatory changes effectively [4], facilitating the proactive adoption of measures that drive increased environmental investment within their organizations [3, 17]. Furthermore, their governmental background enhances their ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with government agencies [50, 51], thereby securing additional policy support and resources that further promote enterprise investment in pollution control.

Third, from a cultural perspective, the ingrained sense of responsibility and mission cultivated in the government work environment significantly influences CEOs’ behavior. Their extensive public service includes rigorous training in party discipline and social responsibility [42, 43], fostering a profound sense of social obligation [52]. This responsibility compels them to focus not only on their organizations economic interests but also to perceive the enterprise as part of society, willingly embracing greater social responsibilities [53, 54]. Consequently, these CEOs are inclined to advocate for increased enterprise investment in pollution control, fulfilling their commitments to environmental stewardship [55, 56] and enhancing their organizations’ social reputation.

In summary, CEOs with government work experience tend to drive enterprise investment in pollution control more vigorously due to the multifaceted influence of government imprinting across structural, cognitive, and cultural dimensions. These imprints enhance proactivity in addressing environmental risks, comprehending policy mandates, and assuming social responsibilities, thereby facilitating increased enterprise investments in pollution control efforts. Based on this, the study proposes the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1. CEOs with government work experience are positively associated with enterprise investment in pollution control.

2.3 Moderating effect of CEOs’ status perception

Early experiences working in the government impact CEOs’ cognition and decision-making, fostering investments in environmental governance within their enterprises. Although imprinting has a lasting effect on individuals, this effect is dynamic and adjusts with environmental changes [1, 19]. In China, organizational types are classified into five categories: government, state-owned enterprises, foreign enterprises, private enterprises, and others [27]. Government and state-owned enterprises are perceived as high-status organizations [27]. Therefore, when a CEO transitions from a government department to an enterprise, the government imprinting formed during the critical period still exists. However, changes in the work environment may alter their self-perceived status, thereby influencing the extent of the government imprinting effect.

Status perception refers to an individual’s sense of being valued and respected based on their relative status within a specific group [23]. Weber posited that individuals primarily assess their status based on their economic status (wealth and income), political status (power), and social status (prestige) [24]. Previous research has demonstrated that a CEO’s economic, political, and social status can influence decision-making in different enterprise aspects [27, 28, 38]. Therefore, we will discuss in detail how the three dimensions of status perception each moderate the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control.

3.1 Sample and data source

China is an ideal empirical context for this study, given the crucial role private enterprises play in driving economic development and environmental protection [29]. Our research sample is obtained from the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey (CPES) database, updated biennially and widely used in organizational and management research on Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This database is recognized as an authoritative and reliable source for obtaining data on private enterprises in China [27, 28], providing the foundation for testing our hypotheses [90].

We select data from 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 to investigate the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control for two reasons. First, the dataset provides unique, detailed information on CEOs’ government work experience and subjective status perception, which are critical variables for our study and not readily available in other data sources [91]. Second, the dataset offers comprehensive, high-quality information on private enterprises and their CEOs, ensuring that our sample accurately represents China’s private sector, thereby enhancing the robustness of our findings.

In recent years, numerous scholars have also leveraged CPES data from 2008 to 2014 to explore enterprise environmental issues. For instance, Fu et al. [92] use the 2012 data to explore the effects of environmental regulation on enterprise performance, while Yan and Xu [93] examine the impact of political party cooperation on enterprise environmental investment using data from 2006 to 2014.

3.2 Regression models

To test these hypotheses, we construct the following verification model: Model (1) tests the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control. Models 2 to 4 mainly test the moderating effect of CEO status perception. (1) (2) (3) (4) Where GWCEO is the independent variable, which is the CEO with government work experience; ES perception, SS perception, and PS perception are the moderating variables, which are CEO status perception; and CVs are the control variables, specifically, CEO sex, CEO age, CEO political connection, enterprise age, enterprise industry, and provincial GDP. In addition, the year of the sample and enterprise area are considered control variables.

3.3 Variables and measures

3.3.4 Control variables.

We select several variables to control for probable influences on the independent variables. At the CEO level, we control for CEO sex by including a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the CEO is female and 0 if the CEO is male; CEO age is measured by the year of the questionnaire minus the CEO’s year of birth, and CEO political connection by including a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the CEO is a representative of the National People’s Congress or the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and 0 otherwise.

At the enterprise level, we measure the enterprise age as the year of the questionnaire minus the year the enterprise was registered as a private enterprise. According to the guidelines for environmental information disclosure of listed enterprises (Exposure Draft) in 2010 and combined with the characteristics of private enterprises, the five industries of mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water, construction, and transportation are considered heavy pollution industries, and the rest are light pollution industries. Therefore, we control the enterprise industry by including a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the enterprise is a heavy pollution industry and 0 otherwise. We measure provincial GDP using the natural logarithm of the previous year’s provincial GDP. To account for whether area conditions play a role in enterprise investment in pollution control, we control the enterprise area using a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the enterprise belongs to the eastern area and 0 otherwise. Finally, we control for time effects by including the corresponding dummy variables for the years under study. Table 1 details the definitions of the variables.

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Table 1. Variable definition.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317903.t001

6.1 Theoretical contributions

Our study offers three main contributions. First, it explores the impact of CEOs with government work experience on enterprise investment in pollution control. This enriches the research on non-commercial experience career imprints and expands the application of imprinting theory in environmental governance. Marquis [20] posits that career imprints emphasize that early career experiences not only shape individual characteristics and behaviors but also influence their decision-making patterns and values in the long term. This process is significant during critical periods of career development when individuals selectively absorb characteristics, behaviors, and cognitive frameworks that reflect their imprints [19, 38]. Currently, most studies on career imprints and enterprise development focus primarily on individuals’ commercial experiences, such as financial experience [33], digital technology experience [98], and marketing experience [2]. However, as more CEOs transition from government sectors to the enterprise realm, the impact of their non-commercial experiences on enterprise development becomes more apparent. The knowledge, skills, and values accumulated during their government tenure influence their decision-making approaches and shape their perceptions and responsibilities regarding enterprise social responsibility [42, 99]. Nevertheless, research on non-commercial experience career imprints remains insufficient. Most literature must adequately explore how government work experience shapes CEOs’ decision-making behaviors and how these behaviors affect enterprise investment in pollution control [4, 11]. Therefore, this study defines the decision-making behaviors formed by individual government work experience as “government imprinting,” focusing on how government imprinting influences CEOs’ decisions regarding enterprise investment in pollution control. This perspective expands the research on non-commercial experience career imprints and provides new opportunities for the further development and application of imprinting theory in environmental governance.

Second, our study contributes significantly to the literature on status perception by delineating its dimensions and exploring how they influence the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control. Previous research has focused on the impact of status perception on enterprise development. For instance, Sheng et al. [91] examine the effect of CEOs’ subjective status perception on international behaviors, while Li et al. [67] investigate the influence of CEOs’ self-perceived status on enterprise social responsibility. However, the lack of dimensional differentiation has limited further in-depth research in status perception [30], resulting in insufficient theoretical guidance for enterprises [29]. Existing research has indicated that various dimensions of status perception can affect CEOs’ decision-making styles. For instance, CEOs with high economic status perception are more likely to focus on short-term financial performance [25], while those with high social status perception emphasize enterprise social reputation [26]. Therefore, this study categorizes status perception into three dimensions: economic, social, and political, and further explores the moderating effects of each dimension on the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control. This study enriches the conceptual connotation and practical application of status perception, provides essential references for enterprises to flexibly utilize status perception in different contexts, and lays the foundation for subsequent research on the complex mechanisms of status perception in enterprise development.

Third, this study explores the impact of CEOs with government work experience on enterprise investment in pollution control from a micro-level perspective, making a significant contribution to the literature on sustainable development. Previous research has primarily focused on macro- and meso-level factors [100, 101], such as environmental legislation [88], environmental regulation [102], digital transformation [103], enterprise social responsibility [104], product innovation [105], and organizational culture. However, as leaders of enterprises, CEOs’ personal experiences, values, and decision-making styles significantly influence the decision-making and execution effectiveness of enterprise environmental investment, thereby influencing sustainable development [1, 3, 52]. Currently, research on the impact of CEOs on enterprise environmental governance primarily concentrates on two aspects: one is the innate traits of CEOs, such as gender [5], age [6], and overconfidence [7]; and the other is their acquired experiences, including marketing [2], finance, and overseas experiences [106]. Environmental behaviors driven by these acquired experiences are typically oriented toward serving enterprise interests, manifested as externally motivated actions. Conversely, CEOs with government work experience can foster a sense of social responsibility and mission for environmental protection [17, 18], both cognitively and structurally. This intrinsic sense of responsibility is more likely to influence long-term enterprise environmental governance behaviors, thus promoting sustainable development [4, 50], which warrants deeper investigation. Additionally, this study responds to the call by Mahran and Elamer [4] regarding how CEO experience affects environmental sustainability practices and outcomes. The recent controversies surrounding Japan’s nuclear wastewater discharge have sparked global discussions, prompting academia and practice to emphasize the significance of pollution control investment in sustainable development. Therefore, this study focuses on the impact of CEOs with government work experience on enterprise investment in pollution control at the micro level. Such experiences instill a spontaneous sense of responsibility in CEOs, motivating them to strive for sustainable development and providing new perspectives and insights for research in this area.

6.2 Practical implications

First, enterprises can hire CEOs with previous government work experience to help them respond to government requirements for environmental protection. Our findings indicate that CEOs with government work experience can promote enterprise investment in pollution control. These CEOs, who have previously worked in government departments, can interpret government environmental policies and dynamics more thoroughly and possess richer experience in environmental pollution control [3, 49]. Therefore, enterprises should explicitly recruit CEOs with government work experience and encourage them to engage in exchanges with diverse partners, actively participate in internal and external strategic development training, and fully leverage their advantages in past government work experience while addressing any shortcomings in enterprise management experience.

Second, enterprises must understand how the CEO’s status perception influences decision-making, primarily regarding environmental investments. Research indicates that economic, social, and political status perceptions negatively moderate the relationship between CEOs with government work experience and enterprise investment in pollution control. Therefore, enterprises should conduct regular surveys and foster communication to gain deeper insights into CEOs’ status perception preferences and develop strategies to encourage more proactive environmental investment decisions [107]. For instance, concerning economic status perception, enterprises could implement economic incentive policies linked to the performance of environmental investments, such as bonuses and other financial rewards, to motivate CEOs to prioritize environmental projects [4]. These incentive measures can help alleviate the short-term focus of high-status CEOs in resource allocation, guiding them toward more long-term investments in pollution control.

Third, enterprises can establish a continuous feedback mechanism to understand the CEO’s understanding and attitude toward environmental policies and dynamics and adjust the enterprise’s pollution control investment strategy based on the feedback results. Research findings indicate that all three types of CEO status perception can influence enterprise investment in pollution control. Therefore, enterprises can establish regular CEO environmental policy seminars or working groups, allowing CEOs to discuss environmental policies and dynamics with diverse partners such as environmental experts and government officials. This regular discussion mechanism can promote CEOs’ attention and reflection on environmental issues, identify problems, and propose solutions promptly, driving continuous progress in the enterprise’s environmental efforts.

6.3 Limitations and future research

First, future research can expand the study of imprinting theory in terms of research subjects and contexts. This study primarily focuses on how the decision-making patterns of CEOs, as part of the management, create government imprinting effects on enterprise investment in pollution control. However, an enterprise is composed not only of its management but also of its employees. As essential executors, employees are decisive in implementing enterprise investment in pollution control [108]. Therefore, future scholars should pay more attention to studying the imprinting effects generated by the group decision-making patterns of enterprise employees on pollution control investments [19]. Additionally, this study does not consider the impact of the macro-external environment on enterprise investment in pollution control. With the advent of new-generation information technology, the iteration of various production factors within enterprises is accelerating. How the continuous influence of CEO imprinting affects pollution control investment decisions will unfold in the face of dynamic changes in digital technology is a new issue worth paying attention to in the digital era [103, 109].

Second, future research can employ diverse data and various research methods to delve into the dynamic process of imprinting effects. This study uses mixed cross-sectional data for empirical research, focusing primarily on the moderating role of CEOs’ status perception on government imprinting. Future research could utilize dynamic panel data to capture the long-term impact paths of CEO government imprinting on enterprise investment in pollution control at different time points [9]. Additionally, future studies could consider adopting qualitative research methods, such as case studies [110], to investigate how CEO government imprinting affects enterprise investment in pollution control decisions and outcomes. Applying these diverse data and research methods will help to more comprehensively understand the application of imprinting theory in enterprise environmental decision-making, thereby providing theoretical and practical guidance for enterprises to make effective decisions in a dynamic environment.