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Social status is seen as an important topic in management and organisational sciences. Despite the extensive research on the upper echelons of management, little is known about the influence of social status on R&D investment decisions. We examine the effects of pre-entrepreneurial social status on R&D investments based on imprinting theory, using 2000–2014 data for 20,177 Chinese private small- and medium-sized enterprises. The results reveal that entrepreneurs with an upper and lower social status show a stronger tendency to make R&D investments than middle-class counterparts. The findings are robust to various sensitivity tests. In addition, we explore the moderating influences of political capital and institutional environment, both of which enhance the positive relationship between social status and R&D investments. Our study finds that social status has a lasting and varying impact on decisions to engage in innovation behaviours. The findings contribute to research on Chinese firm innovation and offer key implications for social status and imprinting theorising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large sample of 10,668 small‐ and medium‐sized private Chinese enterprises over the 2006–2014 period, this study investigates the effect of the social class background of entrepreneurs on firm corporate environmental responsibility (CER) activities. The research question is developed using the concepts of imprinting theory. We measure the social class background of entrepreneurs as the level of occupational prestige held by the individual prior to starting a business. Results show that entrepreneurs drawn from the upper and lower social classes show a preference for the pursuit of environmental governance investment strategies. Moderating influences based on political capital and institutional environment are also explored. The theory and findings highlight that the social class background of entrepreneurs has a lasting and varying impact on the CER activities of a firm. The results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests. The study extends our understanding of how and why enterprise CER behaviour varies, particularly in the context of Chinese private firms, and offers important implications for the task of sustainable development by enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]