Job demands change CEOs’ psychology

In a new study published in the Journal of Management Studies (VHB A, FT 50), researchers from TU Dortmund University, McMaster University, Pepperdine University, and the University of Passau study how CEOs’ job demands affect their psychology.

Existing literature has traditionally assumed that personality characteristics of CEOs influence various firm-level outcomes like firm performance. However, there are hardly any studies that considered that there might be effects in the opposite direction.

In their study, the researchers therefore analyze how various job demands, in the form of firm performance, the CEO’s aspirations, and shareholder activism, affect the CEO’s regulatory focus, a critical CEO personality characteristic.

Graf-Vlachy, L., Neville, F., Short, C. & Völkl, F.X. Understanding the Antecedents of CEO Regulatory Focus, Journal of Management Studies, forthcoming.

Read the entire study here.

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