Why outsider CEOs bring less change: A relational perspective

Extant research on Chief Executive Officer (CEO) succession has long questioned whether the appointment of a new CEO is beneficial, or detrimental, for firms facing conditions of financial distress (Finkelstein, Hambrick & Cannella, 2009). Our paper attends to answer this question by adopting a relational perspective to study the link between new CEO succession origin and strategic change in turnaround conditions. Specifically, we argue, that the degree to which outside CEO succession associates with strategic change depends on the relational network the outsider CEO has established with key incumbent board members prior to succession.

, 2021