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Publications
Publications
  • April 2020
  • Article
  • Journal of Political Economy

CEO Behavior and Firm Performance

By: Oriana Bandiera, Stephen Hansen, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:45
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Abstract

We measure the behavior of 1,114 CEOs in six countries parsing granular CEO diary data through an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. The algorithm uncovers two distinct behavioral types: "leaders" and "managers." Leaders focus on multi-function, high-level meetings, while managers focus on one-to-one meetings with core functions. Firms with leader CEOs are on average more productive, and this difference arises only after the CEO is hired. The data is consistent with horizontal differentiation of CEO behavioral types and firm-CEO matching frictions. We estimate that 17% of sample CEOs are mismatched and that mismatches are associated with significant productivity losses.

Keywords

CEOs; Management; Behavior; Organizations; Performance; Analysis

Citation

Bandiera, Oriana, Stephen Hansen, Andrea Prat, and Raffaella Sadun. "CEO Behavior and Firm Performance." Journal of Political Economy 128, no. 4 (April 2020): 1325–1369.
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About The Author

Raffaella Sadun

Strategy
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  • Management and Firm Dynamism By: Nicholas Bloom, Jonathan S. Hartley, Raffaella Sadun, Rachel Schuh and John Van Reenen
  • Training Within Firms By: Brayan Diaz, Andrea Neyra-Nazarrett, Julian Ramirez, Raffaella Sadun and Jorge Tamayo
  • The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise By: Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Charles Ayoubi, Hila Lifshitz, Raffaella Sadun, Ethan Mollick, Lilach Mollick, Yi Han, Jeff Goldman, Hari Nair, Stew Taub and Karim R. Lakhani
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