Do CEO characteristics matter for corporate risk taking? Evidence from Russia
ISSN: 1472-0701
Article publication date: 24 January 2023
Issue publication date: 29 June 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the impact of CEOs’ personality and social connections on corporate risk-taking in the Russian market.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 93 large listed Russian corporations between 2008 and 2016, this study tests a range of personal traits, including the classical personal characteristics like age and tenure, some country-specific traits such as connections and military experience, as well as other human and social capital characteristics.
Findings
This study finds non-linear relationships between corporate risk-taking and CEO age and tenure. This study also finds that firms run by CEOs with military experience take more corporate risk. On the CEOs’ social capital side, this study’s results suggest that both political and educational connections are positively related to corporate risk-taking.
Originality/value
This study also tests some traits that have usually been ignored by the literature, such as marital and family status.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to three anonymous referees, participants in the Analytics for Management and Economics Conference held in Saint Petersburg, in the XXIX ACEDE National Conference and to Philip Jaggs for suggestions on previous versions of the paper. All the remaining errors are the authors’ sole responsibility.
Funding: This study comprises research findings from the projects No. 18–18-00270 supported by the Russian Science Foundation and PID2020-114797GB-I00 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Statements and Declarations: All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Citation
García-Gómez, C.D., Zavertiaeva, M. and López Iturriaga, F.J. (2023), "Do CEO characteristics matter for corporate risk taking? Evidence from Russia", Corporate Governance, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 1019-1045. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-07-2022-0301
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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