CEO Duality and Firm Performance: Evidence from an Exogenous Shock to the Competitive Environment

60 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2012 Last revised: 9 Jan 2016

See all articles by Tina Yang

Tina Yang

University of South Florida - Muma College of Business; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Shan Zhao

City University of Hong Kong (CityU); European Corporate Governance Institute

Date Written: May 1, 2014

Abstract

Regulators and governance activists are pressuring firms to abolish CEO duality (the Chief Executive Officer is also the Chairman of the Board). However, the literature provides mixed evidence on the relation between CEO duality and firm performance. Using the exogenous shock of the 1989 Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, we find that duality firms outperform non-duality firms by 3-4% when their competitive environments change. Further, the performance difference is larger for firms with higher information costs and better corporate governance. Our results underscore the benefits of CEO duality in saving information costs and making speedy decisions.

Keywords: CEO duality, firm performance, corporate governance, endogeneity, competitive environments

JEL Classification: G34, G38, K22

Suggested Citation

Yang, Tina and Zhao, Shan, CEO Duality and Firm Performance: Evidence from an Exogenous Shock to the Competitive Environment (May 1, 2014). Journal of Banking and Finance, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2177403 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2177403

Tina Yang (Contact Author)

University of South Florida - Muma College of Business ( email )

140 7th Ave S
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
United States
7278734568 (Phone)

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Shan Zhao

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) ( email )

Hong Kong

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/view/zhaoshan/

European Corporate Governance Institute ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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