THE FACE OF THE FIRM: THE INFLUENCE OF CEOs ON CORPORATE REPUTATION

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Love, E. Geoffrey; Lim, Jaegoo; Bednar, Michael K.
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2014.0862
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1462-1481
• 关键词: ORGANIZATIONAL REPUTATION; CERTIFICATION CONTESTS; propensity score; STRATEGIC CHANGE; UPPER ECHELONS; IMPACT; media; CONSEQUENCES; performance; leadership

摘要

It is widely assumed that CEOs shape how people view firms, but the question of how these leaders influence corporate reputations has received little theoretical or empirical attention. This study addresses two core questions in this vein: to what degree do leaders really matter for firm reputation, and which leaders affect their firm's reputation? We develop theory to explain how and why leaders should enter into evaluations of the firms that they lead. Specifically, we propose that CEOs' effects on corporate reputation will depend on leader prominence and on perceptions of leader quality. We thus test hypotheses that examine how CEOs' media coverage, industry awards, and outsider standing affect the reputations of their firms. Our findings indicate that highly regarded CEOs enhance their firms' reputations, sometimes substantially, and CEOs who receive negative press coverage damage their firms' reputations. However, CEO prominence alone is not associated with higher firm reputation. We discuss implications for research on top leaders and corporate reputations.