CEO curiosity and firm innovation

Author

Hui YU, Singapore Management University

Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

5-2021

Abstract

As an important personality trait, CEO curiosity is emphasized in practice but obtains little attention in theory. This dissertation aims to investigate the impact of CEO curiosity on firm innovation and the mediating role of external search. I argue that both diversive and specific curiosity of CEOs are positively correlated to firm innovation based on upper echelons theory (UET). Furthermore, search breadth mediates the positive connection between CEO diversive curiosity and firm innovation, while search depth mediates the positive connection between CEO specific curiosity and firm innovation. Besides, I explore the moderating effects of firm performance and market competition on the correlation between CEO curiosity and external search. Using survey data, I obtain strong empirical support for the theoretical model. This dissertation strives to investigate the connection between CEO curiosity and firm innovation, tackle the mechanism behind the relationship, and enrich the research of the upper echelons theory.

Keywords

CEO curiosity, firm innovation, external search

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Business Admin

Discipline

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Technology and Innovation

Supervisor(s)

GENG, Xuesong

First Page

1

Last Page

116

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Citation

YU, Hui. CEO curiosity and firm innovation. (2021). 1-116.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/344

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.