The Impact of CEO Succession with Gender Change on Firm Performance and Successor Early Departure: Evidence from China’s Publicly Listed Companies in 1997-2010

Time：May 12th (Thursday) 10:30 -12noon

Location: Zhifuxuan, National School of Development, Peking U.

Speaker: Qu Hongyan, Assistant Professor, School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics

Abstract

Female corporate leadership has drawn increasing attention from academia and practitioners. We contribute to the literature by examining the impact of CEO succession with gender change—i.e., a male CEO succeeded by a female or vice versa. We propose that due to gender differences in executive leadership positions, CEO succession with gender change may amplify the disruption of the CEO succession process and thus adversely affect post-succession firm performance and increase the likelihood of successor early departure. Using data from 3,320 CEO successions in companies listed in China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 1997 to 2010, we find evidence to support this argument. We also find that the negative (positive) impact of male-to-female succession on firm performance (the likelihood of successor early departure) may be weakened by positive organizational attitudes toward female leadership as indicated by the presence of other female leaders on the firm’s board of directors and/or top management team, and the successor’s inside origin.

Hongyan Qu is at present an assistant professor at School of Management Science and

Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics. She received her Ph.D. degree from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University and has been a visiting scholar at Rice University. Hongyan’s research is mainly focused on corporate governance and top management teams, especially in China’s publicly listed companies. Her work around corporate governance has been published or got accepted at academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, etc. Hongyan is also currently undertaking several research projects from NSFC