This study examines whether and how the famine experiences of board chairs influence the innovation of their firms. Results using a sample comprising 8882 firm‐year observations from Chinese firms during the period 2003 to 2017 reveal that the board chair's famine experience has a negative...

Drawing on imprinting theory, we propose that early-life famine experiences created an imprint of survival threat among board chairs who survived the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961). We show how temporal perception shapes famine-experienced chair behavior to adopt different strategies when...