TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the relationship between CEO characteristics and performance
AU - Garcia-Blandon, Josep
AU - Argilés-Bosch, Josep M.
AU - Ravenda, Diego
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - This article examines the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm performance with a sample formed by the best performing CEOs in the world according to Harvard Business Review. The empirical analysis is based on descriptive statistics techniques and studies the universe of CEOs included in the 2016 ranking “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World” released by Harvard Business Review. Moreover, it addresses performance at various levels: financial performance, environmental, social and governance performance (ESG) and overall performance. The findings of the study show: 1) a strongly negative association between financial and ESG performance; 2) outsider CEOs outperform insider CEOs in overall performance; 3) CEOs with engineering degrees show significantly higher ESG performance; 4) CEOs with longer tenures in the firm present stronger financial performance though weaker ESG performance; and 5) the CEO’s country of origin emerges as an important driver to explain the different types of performance. Results in this field contradict the conventional wisdom of Anglo-Saxon CEOs as the best performers CEOs.
AB - This article examines the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm performance with a sample formed by the best performing CEOs in the world according to Harvard Business Review. The empirical analysis is based on descriptive statistics techniques and studies the universe of CEOs included in the 2016 ranking “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World” released by Harvard Business Review. Moreover, it addresses performance at various levels: financial performance, environmental, social and governance performance (ESG) and overall performance. The findings of the study show: 1) a strongly negative association between financial and ESG performance; 2) outsider CEOs outperform insider CEOs in overall performance; 3) CEOs with engineering degrees show significantly higher ESG performance; 4) CEOs with longer tenures in the firm present stronger financial performance though weaker ESG performance; and 5) the CEO’s country of origin emerges as an important driver to explain the different types of performance. Results in this field contradict the conventional wisdom of Anglo-Saxon CEOs as the best performers CEOs.
KW - CEO’s age
KW - CEO’s tenure
KW - Cross-country differences
KW - ESG performance
KW - Educational background
KW - Financial performance
KW - Insider/outsider CEO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074094173&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3846/jbem.2019.10447
DO - 10.3846/jbem.2019.10447
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074094173
SN - 1611-1699
VL - 20
SP - 1064
EP - 1082
JO - Journal of Business Economics and Management
JF - Journal of Business Economics and Management
IS - 6
ER -