Open AccessThe Facial Appearance of CEOs: Faces Signal Selection but Not Performance
Author(s) -
Janka I. Stoker,
Harry Garretsen,
Luuk Spreeuwers
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0159950
Subject(s) - selection (genetic algorithm) , relevance (law) , face (sociological concept) , sample (material) , psychology , facial recognition system , value (mathematics) , predictive value , personnel selection , social psychology , cognitive psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , political science , pattern recognition (psychology) , management , sociology , economics , machine learning , medicine , social science , chemistry , chromatography , law
Research overwhelmingly shows that facial appearance predicts leader selection. However, the evidence on the relevance of faces for actual leader ability and consequently performance is inconclusive. By using a state-of-the-art, objective measure for face recognition, we test the predictive value of CEOs’ faces for firm performance in a large sample of faces. We first compare the faces of Fortune500 CEOs with those of US citizens and professors. We find clear confirmation that CEOs do look different when compared to citizens or professors, replicating the finding that faces matter for selection. More importantly, we also find that faces of CEOs of top performing firms do not differ from other CEOs. Based on our advanced face recognition method, our results suggest that facial appearance matters for leader selection but that it does not do so for leader performance.
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