You Are Great and I Am Great (Too): Examining New CEOs’ Social Influence Behaviors during Leadership Transition
研究新任CEO在领导过渡期如何通过讨好前任和自夸两种社会影响行为，来应对前任留任董事会或市场负面反应带来的挑战，并发现这些行为可能适得其反。
In this study, we examine new CEOs’ social influence behaviors in leadership transition periods. Taking charge is challenging for new CEOs, particularly when (a) predecessor CEOs stay on as board chairs, or (b) the stock market reacts negatively to new CEO appointments. We propose that new CEOs’ social influence behaviors may alter the adverse impacts of these factors on their early survival prospects. We examine two types of social influence behaviors displayed by new CEOs: (1) ingratiation toward predecessor CEOs and (2) self-promotion. We create proxies for such behaviors using a computer-aided content analysis of transcripts of new CEOs’ conference calls with securities analysts. We find that ingratiation toward predecessors reduces the adverse impact of predecessors’ remaining as board chairs while self-promotion mitigates the negative impact of negative stock market reactions. However, we also find evidence demonstrating that new CEOs’ social influence behaviors can backfire. Accordingly, our study makes important contributions to both the CEO succession literature and the social influence literature.