CEO Power and Top Management Team Tenure Diversity: Implications for Firm Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Tanikawa ◽  
Yuhee Jung

Using agency theory, we explore how the CEO (as principal) and the top management team (TMT) members (as agents) interactively influence the performance of a firm. By adding performance feedback theory into agency relations, we investigate whether the interactive effect of CEO–TMT relations on firm performance differs when past firm performance is either poor or strong. Using a sample of 115 Japanese firms, our results show that the interactive effect of CEO power and TMT tenure diversity on firm performance is positive in a situation of poor past firm performance. However, in a situation of strong past firm performance, the opposite result is found. These findings imply that CEO power might play a significant role in enhancing the effectiveness of TMT diversity on firm performance when past firm performance is poor.

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 156-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Tanikawa ◽  
Soyeon Kim ◽  
Yuhee Jung

Purpose Based on socioemotional selectivity theory, the authors aimed to develop and test hypotheses that identify the direct effect of top management team (TMT) age diversity on firms’ financial performance (return on equity [ROE], return on assets [ROA]) and the interactive effect of TMT age diversity and TMT average age on firms’ financial performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents results from a quantitative study of 867 TMTs in Korean manufacturing firms. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that TMT age diversity had a negative and significant main effect on ROE but not on ROA. They also indicate that the negative relationship between TMT age diversity and firm performance (ROE) was attenuated when the members of TMTs were relatively older. Originality/value First, this study extends existing TMT research, which mainly focuses on macro factors, such as industry and environment, by using micro factors, including TMT age diversity and TMT average age. Second, this paper combines and extends previous TMT studies, which have been dominated by either “property” or “tendency”, by examining the interactive effect of the distributional property (diversity) and central tendency (average) of TMT age on firms’ financial performance. Finally, this study indicates that socioemotional selectivity theory may be useful to explain the link between TMT age diversity and firms’ financial performance.


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

Author(s):  
David P. Tegarden ◽  
Linda F. Tegarden ◽  
Steven D. Sheetz

The cognitive diversity of top management teams has been shown to affect the performance of a firm. In some cases, cognitive diversity has been shown to improve firm performance, in other cases, it has worsened firm performance. Either way, it is useful to understand the cognitive diversity of a top management team. However, most approaches to measure cognitive diversity never attempt to open the “black box” to understand what makes up the cognitive diversity of the team. This research reports on an approach that identifies diverse belief structures, i.e., cognitive factions, through the use of causal mapping and cluster analysis. The results show that the use of causal mapping provides an efficient and effective way to identify idiosyncratic and shared knowledge among members of a top management team. This approach allows the cognitive diversity of the top management team to not only to be uncovered, but also to be understood.


2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1524-1552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jaskiewicz ◽  
Joern H. Block ◽  
Danny Miller ◽  
James G. Combs

Emerging evidence suggests that pay dispersion among non-CEO top management team (TMT) members harms firm performance, which raises questions about why firms’ owners tolerate or even support it. Prior research shows that the key distinction between founder and family owners is that in addition to firm performance and growth goals, family owners pursue socioemotional goals. On the basis of this distinction, we develop and test theory linking founders’ and families’ ownership to TMT pay dispersion. Consistent with our theory, a Bayesian panel analysis of Standard & Poor’s 500 firms shows that founder owners use less TMT pay dispersion and that family owners, relative to founder owners, use more, although that declines across generations. We also provide evidence that TMT pay dispersion harms firm performance. Our theory and results are significant because they help to explain why some owners favor compensation practices that cause TMT pay dispersion, despite evidence that this harms firm performance.


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