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Shedding light on the CMO revolving door: a study of the antecedents of Chief Marketing Officer turnover

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  • Pravin Nath

    (The University of Oklahoma)

  • Vijay Mahajan

    (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Investigating Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) tenure through a longitudinal study of the antecedents of CMO turnover, the authors find that CMO turnover increases if firms’ sales growth is poor, while profitability has a similar though smaller effect when a new CEO is appointed, highlighting marketing’s contextual role vis-à-vis performance metrics. Coupled with other results related to industry sales growth and stability that make CMO turnover less likely, these findings underscore marketing’s demand- or customer-facing role in the firm. The authors also show that some of these results are distinct to turnover among CMOs compared to other top management team (TMT) executives. While this research does show support for extant theory, its focus on the CMO within the TMT results in important contributions to the turnover literature. These include the inverted-U effect of TMT marketing experience on CMO turnover and the nuanced attenuation by CMO insider-ness of a similar relationship between CMO tenure and turnover. Overall, the results lead to important practical implications for managing CMO turnover.

Suggested Citation

  • Pravin Nath & Vijay Mahajan, 2017. "Shedding light on the CMO revolving door: a study of the antecedents of Chief Marketing Officer turnover," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 93-118, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:45:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11747-016-0478-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-016-0478-5
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    3. Kimberly A. Whitler & Ben Lee & Sarah Young, 2022. "The impact of boards of directors on chief marketing officer performance: Framing and research agenda," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 12(1), pages 116-136, June.
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    5. Vaid, Shashank & Ahearne, Michael & Honig, Benson & Krause, Ryan, 2023. "Customer-related executive leadership turnover and firm performance: A dilemma of firm-level human resource contingencies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
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    7. Wenbin Sun & Rahul Govind, 2022. "A New Understanding of Marketing and “Doing Good”: Marketing’s Power in the TMT and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 89-109, February.
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