I read one of the papers on downsizing, and one of the details I found striking was the observation that CEOs love it when other CEOs do layoffs.
If you're a CEO, and you do layoffs, it will improve your social standing among your peers (they will think you are "brave").
So it's like flexing. Flexing at your friends. Flexing on your workers.
Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2580324?origin=crossref&seq=17#metadata_info_tab_contents page 245