Have CEOs changed?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Decressin, Yann; Kaplan, Steven N.; Sorensen, Morten
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2025.104169
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: CEO characteristics; CEO trends; Executive hiring; Managerial talent

摘要

Using more than 4900 personality assessments, we study changes in the characteristics of CEOs and top executives since 2001. The same four factors explain roughly half of the variation in executive characteristics in this larger sample of assessments as in Kaplan and Sorensen (2021). In later years, CEO candidates have shown declining general ability, are increasingly execution-oriented, less interpersonal, less charismatic, and less creative-strategic, and many of these differences persist for hired CEOs. We find no evidence of increasing prevalence or importance of interpersonal and softer skills. Executives assessed for the same company have positively correlated abilities, suggesting that high-ability executives complement each other. Finally, we consider corporate objectives and CEO characteristics.