CEO Health

Matti Keloharju*, Samuli Knüpfer, Joacim Tåg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using comprehensive data on 28 cohorts in Sweden, we analyze CEO health and its determinants and outcomes. We find CEOs are in much better health than the population and on par with other high-skill professionals. These results apply in particular to mental health and to CEOs of larger companies. We explore three mechanisms that can account for CEOs’ robust health. First, we find health predicts appointment to a CEO position. Second, the CEO position has no discernible impact on the health of its holder. Third, poor health is associated with greater CEO turnover. Here, both contemporaneous health and health at the time of appointment matter. Poor CEO health also predicts poor firm outcomes. We find a statistically significant association between mental health and corporate performance for smaller-firm CEOs, for whom a one standard deviation deterioration in mental health translates into a performance reduction of 6% relative to the mean.
Original languageEnglish
Article number101672
Peer-reviewed scientific journalThe Leadership Quarterly
Volume34
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)101672
ISSN1048-9843
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16.01.2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article - refereed

Keywords

  • 512 Business and Management
  • CEOs
  • physical health
  • mental health
  • appointments
  • turnover
  • performance

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