scholarly journals The impact of CEO arrogance on top management team attitudes

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 630-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Toscano ◽  
Gavin Price ◽  
Caren Scheepers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of CEO arrogance on key attitudes of a company’s top management team (TMT). Design/method/approach An experimental design involving a business simulation is used to test the effects of a CEO’s perceived arrogance and humility on the TMT in a boardroom setting. Findings The study finds that, as predicted, arrogant CEOs adversely impacts TMT engagement, cohesiveness, collaboration and consensual decision-making. Thus, the higher the level of CEO arrogance, the lower the levels of positive TMT attitudes. The study intriguingly also finds that CEOs who displayed humility also negatively influenced the attitudes of the TMT. Research limitations/implications The study took place in South Africa, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The use of a laboratory experiment may affect the ecological validity of the findings. Practical implications The results demonstrate that a “Goldilocks” area of neutrality between arrogance and humility should be sought after by CEOs and recruiters of CEOs. If this is impossible, humble CEOs are preferable to arrogant ones. Originality/value This paper empirically demonstrates that arrogant leaders negatively impact their TMT followers in a boardroom environment across a number of attitudes that are keys to the success of effectively managing a corporation. The study also demonstrates that moderation is desired by followers and that CEOs being perceived as overly humble is almost as bad as being perceived as arrogant.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiattichai Kalasin

Purpose This study aims to examine how senior foreign executives in a top management team catalyse strategic change in firms that originated from emerging markets (EMs). It further examines the moderating effects of organisational size and uncertainty avoidance (UA) on the positive relationship between senior foreign manager and strategic change in an organisation. Design/methodology/approach The panel data econometrics and multilevel analyses were adopted to run the model. The author tests hypotheses on 263 emerging market firms (EMFs), originating from nine EMs. Findings Empirical results reveal that senior foreign managers are active agents who can promote and implement strategic change in an organisation. They possess a different set of values, knowledge and experiences that can trigger strategic change. In addition, firm size and UA weaken the relationship between senior foreign manager ratio and strategic change of a firm.. Practical implications This study indicates that recruiting committees of EMFs should consider hiring senior foreign managers to foster a higher degree of strategic change. Nevertheless, firm size and UA may impose implementation difficulties for senior, foreign managers. As a result, the focal firm should be flexible and open to change. Originality/value This study aims to contribute to strategic change and top management team internationalisation literature by promoting the role of senior foreign managers and national culture on strategic change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wein-Hong Chen ◽  
Min-Ping Kang ◽  
Bella Butler

Purpose Penrose’s argument regarding the managerial constraint on continual expansion over two consecutive periods is termed the “Penrose effect,” a relatively less investigated premise in Penrose’s growth theory. The purpose of this paper is to empirically re-examine the Penrose effect from the perspective of upper echelons theory and investigated how top management team (TMT) composition influences the continual growth of a firm. Design/methodology/approach This study empirically tested the hypotheses based on a sample of listed manufacturing firms operating in Taiwan, a newly industrialized economy in the Asia–Pacific region. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses were applied to test hypotheses. Findings The empirical results suggest that low TMT diversity (in terms of educational, functional and team tenure diversity) is likely to engender a situation in which the Penrose effect might occur. Additionally, the results indicate that the proportion of functional executives plays a significant role in influencing the growth trend over two consecutive periods and may soften the impact of the Penrose effect. Practical implications This paper suggests that appropriate structuring of TMTs and appropriate management of their members’ backgrounds and team tenure diversity can help firms overcome the Penrose effect and grow continually. Furthermore, the proportion of functional executives in a TMT is influential. Originality/value This paper uniquely contributes to the theoretical and empirical development of Penrose’s growth theory, upper echelons theory and resource-based view concerning managerial resources.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 35-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi Sinha

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the concept of organizational ambidexterity and how to manage the process of becoming and being an ambidextrous organization. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the insights drawn from a set of in-depth case studies on managing organizational ambidexterity. Findings Organizational ambidexterity is facilitated by an ambidextrous top-management team, and some of the mechanisms used to balance organizational ambidexterity are ambidextrous posturing of the top management, having innovation and efficiency champions across the hierarchy, adopting a portfolio- approach, and linking efficiency-activities and innovation-activities. Practical implications Practicing managers of both large organizations and start-up firms can use the normative guideline suggested in this paper if they are attempting to balance efficiency and innovation activities. Originality/value This papers provides granular insights on how to manage organizational ambidexterity based on experiences of organizations which have been successful in their attempt to be ambidextrous.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1507-1529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Dahms ◽  
Suthikorn Kingkaew

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate what role national top management team diversity (TMTD) plays in foreign-owned subsidiary performance. The authors develop a conceptual framework based on the asset bundling model and the neo-configurational perspective to argue that the impact of TMTD on subsidiary performance depends on its conjunction with other assets. Design/methodology/approach The authors test our framework on a sample of subsidiaries located in the emerging economies of Thailand and Taiwan. The authors utilise structural equation modelling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis techniques. Findings The results indicate that TMTD can contribute and hurt subsidiary performance depending on its bundling with other assets such as organisational network strength, competencies, as well as regional and cultural differences between the home and host country. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to empirically test the asset bundling model in the context of national TMTD in foreign-owned subsidiaries using a configurational approach.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhaskar Prasad ◽  
Paulina Junni

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of top management team (TMT) processes on firm innovativeness. Firm innovativeness is critical for organizational survival. Yet, the authors’ understanding about the key determinants of firm innovativeness is limited, particularly concerning the role of TMT dynamics. Drawing on upper echelon’s theory, the authors develop and test hypotheses concerning the influence of two TMT processes, namely affective conflict and cognitive conflict, on firm innovativeness. They also explore the boundary conditions of TMT dynamics by examining the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between TMT conflict (affective and cognitive conflict) and firm innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected survey-based data from TMT members in 171 information technology organizations based in India. They used multiple regression analyses to test the study hypotheses. Findings The empirical findings indicate that TMT affective conflict is negatively associated with firm innovativeness, whereas TMT cognitive conflict has a negative curvilinear relationship with it. Both relationships are stronger in firms operating in environments characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. Originality/value This study highlights the role of TMT conflict in the pursuit of firm innovativeness. Significantly, the study shows that both TMT affective conflict and cognitive conflict can affect firm innovativeness. However, their effectiveness is contingent on environmental uncertainty. This contributes to the firm innovation literature by clarifying how specific types of TMT conflict influence firm innovativeness in different environmental conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 2639-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoonhee Choi ◽  
Namgyoo K. Park

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the economic and psychological mechanisms in turnover at the managerial level. The paper investigates how (1) the ease of moving posed by alternative jobs (i.e. the economic mechanism) and (2) the desire to move due to low job satisfaction (i.e. the psychological mechanism) simultaneously influence top management team (TMT) turnover and these managers' subsequent job position and pay.Design/methodology/approachUsing 25 years of panel data on more than 2,000 top managers in the United States, the paper utilizes fixed-effects logistic regressions and the ordinary least squares model to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that CEO awards (an economic mechanism) and low compensation (a psychological mechanism) independently have positive effects on turnover. Turnover due to the economic mechanism leads to a higher position and pay, whereas turnover due to the psychological mechanism does not guarantee the same outcome. Further, when examining how pay dissatisfaction influences turnover simultaneously with CEO awards, the authors find that managers with the highest pay leave their firm, and not those with the lowest pay.Originality/valueThe paper employs the pull-and-push theory in the employee turnover literature and applies it to the top management team literature. By doing so, this paper contributes original insights to how economic and psychological mechanisms simultaneously affect managerial turnover and its subsequent outcomes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Qun Wei ◽  
Chung-Ming Lau ◽  
Michael N Young ◽  
Zhihui Wang

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hassan Shakil ◽  
Nor Shaipah Abdul Wahab

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the firm risk of Bursa Malaysia listed firms. Also, this study examines the moderating effect of CSR between TMT heterogeneity and firm risk. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel regression models to test the hypotheses. The sample of this study is Bursa Malaysia non-financial listed firms from 2013 to 2017 with 3,055 observations. Findings This study finds significant effects of TMT age and tenure heterogeneities on total risk. Effects on idiosyncratic risk are evident only within age heterogeneity. Further, this study finds negative effects of CSR on total and idiosyncratic risks. CSR significantly moderates the relationship between total TMT heterogeneity and firm systematic risk. Practical implications This study reduces the literature gap by providing useful insights on the effects of CSR activities and TMT heterogeneity on firm risk. The findings can also provide hints to investors to assist them in assessing firm risk based on TMT heterogeneity and firms’ CSR. This study can also benefit shareholders in their attempts to mitigate the risk of their portfolio by investing in firms that are socially responsible as firms with high CSR suffer lower total and idiosyncratic risks. Originality/value Previous studies have emphasised on the influence of TMT characteristics and CSR on firm performance. However, studies that investigate the effects of TMT heterogeneity and CSR on firm risk are limited in the context of Malaysia.


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