Abstract
As the primary decision makers, chief executive officers (CEOs) play pivotal roles in firm innovation. However, little is known regarding how CEOs influence the exploitation and exploration paradox. To advance theory and research, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the joint effects of CEO tenure and CEO–chair duality on a firm’s shifting emphasis between exploitative and exploratory innovation. This paper takes the approach of a longitudinal sample of 81 US pharmaceutical firms and finds that as CEOs’ tenure advance, their firms’ percentage of exploitative innovation increases. Furthermore, non-duality (separation of board chair and CEO) further strengthens the positive relationship between CEO tenure and the percentage of exploitative innovation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 536-552 |
| Journal | Journal of Strategy and Management |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Oct 2019 |
Keywords
- Innovation
- CEO
- Duality
- Board of Directors
- Exploitation
- Exploration