The relationships between CEOs' psychological attributes, top management team behavioral integration and firm performance
International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
ISSN: 1093-4537
Article publication date: 18 March 2021
Issue publication date: 15 June 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of chief executive officers' (CEO’s) core self-evaluation and grandiose narcissism on firm performance. This work combines bright and dark personality sides to explore how complex CEO's behavioral characteristics affect firms' outcomes. In addition, top management team (TMT) behavioral integration is considered as an organizational setting that acts as a conductive device bridging CEOs behavioral characteristics with firms' performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study are based on 187 respondents, including CEOs and TMTs, across medium and large firms in Turkey through an online survey using a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data collected.
Findings
The study finds that only CEO-TMT narcissism and TMT behavioral integration have a positive direct effect on firm financial performance. Contrary to expectations, CEO-TMT core self-evaluation has a negative direct effect on firm performance. Moreover, the results show that environmental dynamism interacts positively and significantly with CEO-TMT narcissism. Thus, the claim that TMT behavioral integration has a mediating effect is not supported in the context of medium and large firms in Turkey.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the upper echelons theory (UET) literature by highlighting the boundary conditions under which narcissistic CEOs can interact with more behaviorally integrated TMT members to exchange information, make joint decisions and collaborate in a relatively dynamic environment, as well as aggregating the bright side and dark side of CEOs personality traits and examining their effects alongside those of TMT behavioral integration on the firm performance. Finally, this study enriches the upper echelons literature by providing evidence from Turkey.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and the editor for his review of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank all the CEOs and TMTs for their time in participating in the research at the Turkish medium and large firms.
Citation
Aljuhmani, H.Y., Emeagwali, O.L. and Ababneh, B. (2021), "The relationships between CEOs' psychological attributes, top management team behavioral integration and firm performance", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 126-145. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-06-2020-0089
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited