CEO relational identification, mortality science, and reprioritization following director deaths
Publication Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
1-2015
Abstract
Anecdotal and empirical evidence from a broad range of sources suggests that individuals often respond to the death of a peer by re-evaluating their approach to, and priorities in, their life and their career. In this study, we synthesize work addressing this general human tendency with management research in the domain of strategic leadership. Building on relational identification theory, we argue that CEOs who experience the death of a director at the same firm will subsequently change their personal and organizational priorities. We hypothesize, and find evidence for our claim, that firms led by CEOs experiencing peer deaths will show an increase in short- term inefficiency, a reduction in long-term investment, and an increase in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. We provide further support for our theory by showing that the impact of experiencing the death of a peer is amplified by several factors that are likely to increase a CEO’s level of relational identification with the deceased – CEO-director demographic similarity and the suddenness of the death. To test our hypotheses, we use a sample of director deaths in U.S. public firms and a difference-in-differences estimation approach.
Keywords
CEO experiences, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility
Discipline
Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics
Research Areas
Corporate Governance, Auditing and Risk Management
Publication
Academy of Management Proceedings
Volume
2015
Issue
1
ISSN
0065-0668
Identifier
10.5465/AMBPP.2015.14907abstract
Publisher
Academy of Management
Citation
CHEN, Guoli; CROSSLAND, Craig; and HUANG, Sterling.
CEO relational identification, mortality science, and reprioritization following director deaths. (2015). Academy of Management Proceedings. 2015, (1),.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/2022
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2015.14907abstract