TY - JOUR
T1 - Do Humble CEOs Matter? An Examination of CEO Humility and Firm Outcomes
AU - Ou, Amy Y.
AU - Waldman, David
AU - Peterson, Suzanne
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: This article was accepted under the editorship of Patrick M. Wright. The authors would like to thank Anne S. Tsui, Albert Cannella, Jr., and Marianne Lewis for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. We also thank Patrick Wright and two anonymous reviewers whose comments contributed to the quality of our arguments. This work was supported by Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 Academic Research Fund Grant R-317-000-114-112.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - We propose a mediation model to explain the relationship between CEO humility and firm performance. Building on upper echelons, power, and paradox theories, we hypothesize that when a more humble CEO leads a firm, its top management team (TMT) is more likely to collaborate, share information, jointly make decisions, and possess a shared vision. The firm will also tend to have lower pay disparity between the CEO and the TMT. The humble CEO and TMT, in turn, will be more likely to adopt an ambidextrous strategic orientation, which will be associated with stronger firm performance. We tested the model by using both survey and archival data that were collected at multiple time points from 105 small-to-medium-sized firms in the computer software and hardware industry in the United States. Findings largely support our theoretical assertions, suggesting that CEO humility has important implications for firm processes and outcomes.
AB - We propose a mediation model to explain the relationship between CEO humility and firm performance. Building on upper echelons, power, and paradox theories, we hypothesize that when a more humble CEO leads a firm, its top management team (TMT) is more likely to collaborate, share information, jointly make decisions, and possess a shared vision. The firm will also tend to have lower pay disparity between the CEO and the TMT. The humble CEO and TMT, in turn, will be more likely to adopt an ambidextrous strategic orientation, which will be associated with stronger firm performance. We tested the model by using both survey and archival data that were collected at multiple time points from 105 small-to-medium-sized firms in the computer software and hardware industry in the United States. Findings largely support our theoretical assertions, suggesting that CEO humility has important implications for firm processes and outcomes.
KW - CEO humility
KW - firm performance
KW - organizational ambidexterity
KW - pay disparity
KW - top management team integration
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U2 - 10.1177/0149206315604187
DO - 10.1177/0149206315604187
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85041280572
SN - 0149-2063
VL - 44
SP - 1147
EP - 1173
JO - Journal of Management
JF - Journal of Management
IS - 3
ER -