Premium
The impact of CEO core self‐evaluation on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation
Author(s) -
Simsek Zeki,
Heavey Ciaran,
Veiga John Jack F.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.800
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , dynamism , entrepreneurial orientation , personality , core (optical fiber) , core self evaluations , psychology , sample (material) , personality psychology , big five personality traits , business , social psychology , entrepreneurship , computer science , job performance , job satisfaction , telecommunications , chemistry , physics , finance , chromatography , quantum mechanics , job design , programming language
Although much has been attributed to a CEO's personality, one particularly intriguing, and as yet unexplored, investigation is its impact on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation. Additionally, despite calls from the upper‐echelon literature, CEO personality research has been hobbled by the absence of a unifying construct that captures core dimensions of personality, and by the difficulty in obtaining such intimate assessments from executives. Building on recent advances in personality research, in particular the identification and validation of the core self‐evaluation construct that captures the core facets of an executive's sense of self‐potency, we develop and test a model of the impact of CEO core self‐evaluation on entrepreneurial orientation. Then, consistent with upper echelons and personality theory, we specify the contingent role of environmental dynamism. Using multisource data from a sample of CEOs and their top management teams from 129 firms, including a time‐lagged assessment of the firm's entrepreneurial orientation, we find evidence to suggest that CEOs whose personalities reflect higher core self‐evaluations have a stronger positive influence on their firms' entrepreneurial orientation. In addition, we find that this influence is particularly strong in firms facing dynamic environments, but negligible in stable environments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.