Chief executive personality and export involvement

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an empirical research concerning the influence of the Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) personality on the export behaviour and performance of 81 manufacturing firms in a small European country. Regression analysis was applied in order to determine which of the personality characteristics studied could explain the export performance of the firms. The results showed that there are several personality traits of the decision maker that can be related to export involvement, supporting the “upper echelons model” that contends that firm performance is a reflection of its top managers. Moreover, the effect of the CEO’s personality on the export performance was found to be much stronger in small enterprises than in larger ones.

Citation

Halikias, J. and Panayotopoulou, L. (2003), "Chief executive personality and export involvement", Management Decision, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 340-349. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740310468072