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Organizational structure and CEO dominance

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  • Christian Schumacher

    (Vienna University of Economics and Business)

Abstract

We explore the effects of chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) personal dominance—an idiosyncratic character trait strongly associated with a desire for influence and control—on two fundamental organizational design decisions: the CEO’s span of control (1) and her delegation of responsibilities as reflected in the appointment of a chief operating officer (COO) (2). Linking three original measures of CEO dominance based on quarterly earnings calls with manually collected data on span of control and COO positions for a sample of CEOs presiding over large US corporations, we demonstrate that CEOs who are high in dominance have a significantly larger personal span of control and delegate fewer decision rights than less-dominant CEOs. We discuss implications of our findings and future questions from an organizational design perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Schumacher, 2021. "Organizational structure and CEO dominance," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 10(1), pages 19-34, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jorgde:v:10:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1186_s41469-021-00091-6
    DOI: 10.1186/s41469-021-00091-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kiefner, Valentin & Mohr, Alexander & Schumacher, Christian, 2022. "Female executives and multinationals’ support of the UN's sustainable development goals," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).

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