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Reaffirming the CEO effect is significant and much larger than chance: A comment on Fitza (2014)

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  • Timothy J. Quigley
  • Scott D. Graffin

Abstract

A recent study by Fitza argued that the prior estimates of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effect are conflated with events outside the CEO's control, are largely the result of random chance, and that the true CEO effect is smaller than has been previously estimated. We suggest that the empirical methodology employed by Fitza to support these claims substantially overstates the “random chance” element of the CEO effect. We replicate Fitza's findings, highlight methodological issues, offer alternative conclusions, and using multilevel modeling (MLM), suggest that his analyses mischaracterize the CEO effect. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy J. Quigley & Scott D. Graffin, 2017. "Reaffirming the CEO effect is significant and much larger than chance: A comment on Fitza (2014)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 793-801, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:38:y:2017:i:3:p:793-801
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.2503
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Markus A. Fitza, 2014. "The use of variance decomposition in the investigation of CEO effects: How large must the CEO effect be to rule out chance?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1839-1852, December.
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    Cited by:

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    6. Dmitry Sharapov & Paul Kattuman & Diego Rodriguez & F. Javier Velazquez, 2021. "Using the SHAPLEY value approach to variance decomposition in strategy research: Diversification, internationalization, and corporate group effects on affiliate profitability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 608-623, March.
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    8. Philipp Meyer‐Doyle & Sunkee Lee & Constance E. Helfat, 2019. "Disentangling the microfoundations of acquisition behavior and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(11), pages 1733-1756, November.
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    11. Tobias Keller & Martin Glaum & Andreas Bausch & Thorsten Bunz, 2023. "The “CEO in context” technique revisited: A replication and extension of Hambrick and Quigley (2014)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 1111-1138, April.
    12. Siddharth Vedula & Markus Fitza, 2019. "Regional Recipes: A Configurational Analysis of the Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for U.S. Venture Capital-Backed Startups," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 4-24, March.
    13. Johannes Carow, 2024. "A critical assessment of the two-way fixed-effects model for firm-level dependent variables," Working Papers 2405, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    14. White, Joshua V. & Harms, P.D. & Borgholthaus, Cameron J. & Tuggle, Christopher S., 2023. "I’m not the executive that I used to be: Understanding causes and consequences of personality change in the upper echelons," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Somohano Rodríguez, Francisco M. & López Fernández, José Manuel & Martínez García, Francisco Javier, 2018. "El efecto de la innovación en el resultado empresarial durante la recesión económica. Una aplicación a la industria de la automoción," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 91-105.
    16. Kaiser, Florian & Schmid, Andreas & Schlüchtermann, Jörg, 2020. "Physician-leaders and hospital performance revisited," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    17. Waldkirch, Matthias, 2020. "Non-family CEOs in family firms: Spotting gaps and challenging assumptions for a future research agenda," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(1).
    18. Rizwan Ali & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Sana Suleman & Collins Gyakari Ntim, 2022. "CEO attributes, investment decisions, and firm performance: New insights from upper echelons theory," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(2), pages 398-417, March.
    19. Kristian Pultz Schlosser & Aivars Spilbergs & Tatjana Volkova, 2023. "The Effect of Ambidextrous Strategic Leadership on Creating Shared Value," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 22-43.
    20. Valeed Ahmad Ansari, 2018. "Financialization and Inequalities in Income and Wealth طغيان النشاط المالي وعدم المساواة في الدخل والثروة," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 31(1), pages 129-135, January.
    21. Tessa Recendes & Federico Aime & Aaron D. Hill & Oleg V. Petrenko, 2022. "Bargaining your way to success: The effect of Machiavellian chief executive officers on firm costs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2012-2041, October.

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