To content
Department of Business and Economics

How do CEO and top management team fit together at the top of the company?

Cover of the Journal of Management Studies © Journal of Management Studies
New publication in the Journal of Management Studies by Xue Wan from the Professorship of Strategic Management and Leadership

In her recent publication in the Journal of Management Studies (VHB A, FT50), Xue Wan, together with co-authors from the University of Adelaide and Tongji University, investigates the extent to which the similarity of CEOs and top management team members has an impact on firm performance. In particular, she considers the so-called “growth-need strength”, i.e., the strength of the desire to draw personal growth and development from work. If there is a major difference between CEOs and their top management team members in this regard, there is a negative effect on firm growth. This relationship exists because if there is a larger difference, the CEO becomes less open to the rest of the board, leading to coordination problems and divergent interests.