Title: Executive Personality and the Strategic Behavior of Firms: Two Studies of Narcissism in CEOs

Speaker: Dr. Don Hambrick，the Smeal Chaired Professor of Management，Smeal College of Business Administration，The Pennsylvania State University

Time: 15：30 - 17：00 pm. March 23

Location:Room111, Guanghua New Building

Abstract:

The Seminar will describe two inter-related papers on the personality trait of narcissism in chief executive officers (CEOs), one that has already been published (as background) and one that is currently under review. The initial paper introduces theory about the effects of CEO narcissism on firm strategic actions and performance. Using unobtrusive indicators of CEO narcissism, which we convert into an index (and which we validate), we find that CEO narcissism is associated with strategic deviance and grandiosity, as well as with performance extremeness and volatility. In the second study, we adopt an interactionist logic to study the determinants of risk-taking by CEOs. First, we introduce the concept of “capability cues,” which are contextual signals that decision makers might reasonably interpret as indicators of their current level of overall ability, arguing that positive cues will induce boldness, while negative cues will induce timidity. Then, drawing from prior theory about how narcissists react to stimuli, we hypothesize that highly narcissistic CEOs will be relatively unresponsive to objective indicators of their performance; in contrast, highly narcissistic CEOs will be exceptionally emboldened by social praise (in the forms of media praise and media awards). We test our theory, using multiple archival data sources. We find considerable support for our hypotheses, thus opening a new theoretical avenue, and contributing new evidence, regarding the antecedents of risk-taking.

Bio:

Don Hambrick is Evan Pugh Professor and the Smeal Chaired Professor of Management, Smeal College of Business Administration, at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds degrees from the University of Colorado (B.S.), Harvard University (M.B.A.), and The Pennsylvania State University (Ph.D.). An internationally recognized scholar in the field of management, he is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and books on the topics of strategy formulation, strategy implementation, executive staffing and incentives, and the composition and processes of top management teams. In 2008 and 2009, Don received the Distinguished Scholar and Distinguished Educator Awards, respectively, from the Academy of Management. He was President of the Academy of Management in 1992-93. He also has served on the board of directors of the Strategic Management Society and on the editorial boards of all the major journals in his field. In 2010, Don received an honorary doctorate from Sorbonne Universités - Paris Panthéon Assas, one of the major affiliates of the prestigious Universities of Paris, “for his path-breaking research in executive leadership and the role of human factors in business strategy and effectiveness.”