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date: 09 February 2025

The Personality Underpinnings of Strategic Leadership: The CEO, TMT, and Board of Directorslocked

The Personality Underpinnings of Strategic Leadership: The CEO, TMT, and Board of Directorslocked

  • Bret Bradley, Bret BradleyMichael F. Price School of Business, University of Oklahoma
  • Sam MatthewsSam MatthewsCollege of Business Administration, University of Northern Iowa
  • , and Thomas KelemenThomas KelemenMichael F Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma

Summary

“Strategic leadership” is the umbrella term used to describe the study of an organization’s top leaders—what they do, their interactions, and how they influence important organizational outcomes. The three major areas of focus within this field are the chief executive officer (CEO), the top management team (TMT), and the board of directors. Although each area has vibrant bodies of literature on important topics of inquiry, the integration of research findings, frameworks, and insights across the three areas remains underdeveloped. For example, the study of leader personality is a rich line of inquiry within the broader management literature, and all three areas are developing, albeit at different rates and with little integration across the three areas.

The work on CEO personality is the most developed, and the work on board personality is the least developed. CEOs personality traits that have been studied include the Big Five personality traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and emotional stability), locus of control, core self-evaluations, narcissism, overconfidence, hubris, humility and regulatory focus (a person’s general approach to goals as either promotion focused or prevention focused). TMT personality traits that have been studied include the Big Five, trait positive affect, propensity to innovate, and competitive aggressiveness. Finally, board of directors’ personality traits that have been studied include only personality diversity.

Subjects

  • Business Policy and Strategy
  • Human Resource Management
  • Organization Theory
  • Organizational Behavior

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