The CEO is elected by a board and the board is chosen by shareholders. If the board and CEO don't perform they can be fired. The threat of termination is what

The CEO is elected by a board and the board is chosen by shareholders. If the board and CEO don't perform they can be fired. The threat of termination is what causes someone "typical" to act "atypically." Survival instincts kick in, and anything goes. Or you could be right. The CEO in such a position refuses to act immorally and is than fired by the shareholders for not hitting performance metrics. They then hire another and another... until they find a CEO willing to throw away his morality to hit those performance numbers. Do the shareholders care? No.