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The Review of Corporate Finance Studies Vol. 7 No. 1 2018

Robust Models of CEO Turnover: New Evidence on Relative Performance Evaluation

C. Edward Fee1; Charles J. Hadlock2; Jing Huang3; Joshua R. Pierce4

1 Tulane University · 2 Michigan State University · 3 EY · 4 The University of Alabama

Abstract

We examine the robustness of empirical models and findings concerning CEO turnover. We show that the sensitivity of turnover to abnormal firm performance is an extremely robust result. In contrast, evidence indicating a relation between turnover and industry performance is both weak and fragile. We show that small changes in turnover modeling choices can affect inferences in a large way. Our evidence casts substantial doubt on the hypothesis that there is a large industry performance component to turnover decisions. We use our findings to offer some general prescriptions for checking robustness results in CEO turnover research. Received June 6, 2017; editorial decision July 10, 2017 by Editor Uday Rajan.

DOI
10.1093/rcfs/cfx018
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
70-100
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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