Believing one's own press: The causes and consequences of CEO celebrity

Mathew L.A. Hayward; Violina P. Rindova; Timothy G. Pollock

doi:10.1002/smj.405

Believing one's own press: The causes and consequences of CEO celebrity

Mathew L.A. Hayward, Violina P. Rindova, Timothy G. Pollock

Department of Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

412 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This theoretical article introduces the construct of CEO celebrity in order to explain how the tendency of journalists to attribute a firm's actions and outcomes to the volition of its CEO affects such firm. In the model developed here, journalists celebrate a CEO whose firm takes strategic actions that are distinctive and consistent by attributing such actions and performance to the firm's CEO. In so doing, journalists over-attribute a firm's actions and outcomes to the disposition of its CEO rather than to broader situational factors. A CEO who internalizes such celebrity will also tend to believe this over-attribution and become overconfident about the efficacy of her past actions and future abilities. Hubris arises when CEO overconfidence results in problematic firm decisions, including undue persistence with actions that produce celebrity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	637-653
Number of pages	17
Journal	Strategic Management Journal
Volume	25
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.405
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2004

Keywords

Celebrity
CEO hubris
Media
Over-confidence
Strategic decision making

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Believing one's own press: The causes and consequences of CEO celebrity

Abstract

Keywords

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