IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v45y2017i1d10.1007_s11747-016-0478-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shedding light on the CMO revolving door: a study of the antecedents of Chief Marketing Officer turnover

Author

Listed:
  • Pravin Nath

    (The University of Oklahoma)

  • Vijay Mahajan

    (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Investigating Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) tenure through a longitudinal study of the antecedents of CMO turnover, the authors find that CMO turnover increases if firms’ sales growth is poor, while profitability has a similar though smaller effect when a new CEO is appointed, highlighting marketing’s contextual role vis-à-vis performance metrics. Coupled with other results related to industry sales growth and stability that make CMO turnover less likely, these findings underscore marketing’s demand- or customer-facing role in the firm. The authors also show that some of these results are distinct to turnover among CMOs compared to other top management team (TMT) executives. While this research does show support for extant theory, its focus on the CMO within the TMT results in important contributions to the turnover literature. These include the inverted-U effect of TMT marketing experience on CMO turnover and the nuanced attenuation by CMO insider-ness of a similar relationship between CMO tenure and turnover. Overall, the results lead to important practical implications for managing CMO turnover.

Suggested Citation

  • Pravin Nath & Vijay Mahajan, 2017. "Shedding light on the CMO revolving door: a study of the antecedents of Chief Marketing Officer turnover," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 93-118, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:45:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11747-016-0478-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-016-0478-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-016-0478-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-016-0478-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald C. Hambrick & Sydney Finkelstein, 1995. "The effects of ownership structure on conditions at the top: The case of CEO pay raises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 175-193.
    2. Jacob Brower & Vijay Mahajan, 2013. "Driven to Be Good: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective on the Drivers of Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 313-331, October.
    3. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    4. Mark R. Huson & Robert Parrino & Laura T. Starks, 2001. "Internal Monitoring Mechanisms and CEO Turnover: A Long‐Term Perspective," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2265-2297, December.
    5. Christopher F Baum, 2008. "Stata tip 63: Modeling proportions," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 299-303, June.
    6. Sager, Jeffrey K. & Futrell, Charles M. & Varadarajan, Rajan, 1989. "Exploring salesperson turnover: A causal model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 303-326, June.
    7. Michael Lubatkin & Zeki Simsek & Yan Ling & John F. Veiga, 2006. "Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to Medium-Sized Firms : The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration," Post-Print hal-02311781, HAL.
    8. Kashmiri, Saim & Mahajan, Vijay, 2015. "The name's the game: Does marketing impact the value of corporate name changes?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 281-290.
    9. Wang, Rui & Saboo, Alok R. & Grewal, Rajdeep, 2015. "A managerial capital perspective on chief marketing officer succession," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 164-178.
    10. Vincent L. Barker III & Paul W. Patterson Jr & George C. Mueller, 2001. "Organizational Causes and Strategic Consequences of the Extent of Top Management Team Replacement During Turnaround Attempts," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 235-270, March.
    11. Jake G. Messersmith & Jeong-Yeon Lee & James P. Guthrie & Yong-Yeon Ji, 2014. "Turnover at the Top: Executive Team Departures and Firm Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 776-793, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ya You & Shuba Srinivasan & Koen Pauwels & Amit Joshi, 2020. "How CEO/CMO characteristics affect innovation and stock returns: findings and future directions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1229-1253, November.
    2. Tuck Siong Chung & Angie Low & Roland T. Rust, 2023. "Executive confidence and myopic marketing management," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1118-1142, September.
    3. Kimberly A. Whitler & Ben Lee & Sarah Young, 2022. "The impact of boards of directors on chief marketing officer performance: Framing and research agenda," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 12(1), pages 116-136, June.
    4. Kimberly A. Whitler & Ben Lee & Ryan Krause & Neil A. Morgan, 2021. "Upper echelons research in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 198-219, January.
    5. Bendig, David, 2022. "Chief operating officer characteristics and how they relate to exploration via patenting versus venturing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 297-309.
    6. Nina Engels & Denise Fischer-Kreer & Malte Brettel, 2022. "CHRO firm dinosaur versus CHRO role gorilla: the effect of CHRO company and role tenure on firms’ social performance," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(6), pages 929-954, August.
    7. Cecilia Wiedeck & Andreas Engelen, 2018. "The copycat CMO: firms’ imitative behavior as an explanation for CMO presence," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 632-651, July.
    8. Pramod Iyer & Arezoo Davari & Audhesh Paswan, 2018. "Determinants of brand performance: the role of internal branding," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(3), pages 202-216, May.
    9. Wenbin Sun & Rahul Govind, 2022. "A New Understanding of Marketing and “Doing Good”: Marketing’s Power in the TMT and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 89-109, February.
    10. Vaid, Shashank & Ahearne, Michael & Honig, Benson & Krause, Ryan, 2023. "Customer-related executive leadership turnover and firm performance: A dilemma of firm-level human resource contingencies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Feng, Cong & Fay, Scott, 2021. "Chief stores officer and retailer performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Sharma, Amalesh & Yashaswy Akella, Laxminarayana & Bikash Borah, Sourav, 2022. "Knowledge structure of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs): A review, bibliometric analysis, and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 448-462.
    13. Saim Kashmiri & Cameron Duncan Nicol & Sandeep Arora, 2017. "Me, myself, and I: influence of CEO narcissism on firms’ innovation strategy and the likelihood of product-harm crises," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 633-656, September.
    14. Jacob Brower & Pravin Nath, 2018. "Antecedents of market orientation: marketing CEOs, CMOs, and top management team marketing experience," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 405-419, December.
    15. Leigh McAlister & Frank Germann & Natalie Chisam & Pete Hayes & Adriana Lynch & Bill Stewart, 2023. "A taxonomy of marketing organizations," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 617-635, May.
    16. Pravin Nath & Neeraj Bharadwaj, 2020. "Chief marketing officer presence and firm performance: assessing conditions under which the presence of other C-level functional executives matters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 670-694, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guoli Chen, 2015. "Initial compensation of new CEOs hired in turnaround situations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(12), pages 1895-1917, December.
    2. Hadem, Michael, 2010. "Bedingungen und Konsequenzen des Wechsels von Finanzvorständen - Eine Analyse in großen börsennotierten Unternehmen," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 43681, September.
    3. Kweh, Qian Long & Tebourbi, Imen & Lo, Huai-Chun & Huang, Cheng-Tsu, 2022. "CEO compensation and firm performance: Evidence from financially constrained firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Shahab, Yasir & Ntim, Collins G. & Ullah, Farid & Yugang, Chen & Ye, Zhiwei, 2020. "CEO power and stock price crash risk in China: Do female directors' critical mass and ownership structure matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Baranzini, Andrea & Borzykowski, Nicolas & Carattini, Stefano, 2018. "Carbon offsets out of the woods? Acceptability of domestic vs. international reforestation programmes in the lab," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 1-12.
    6. Pravin Nath & Neeraj Bharadwaj, 2020. "Chief marketing officer presence and firm performance: assessing conditions under which the presence of other C-level functional executives matters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 670-694, July.
    7. Miriam Flickinger & Markus Wrage & Anja Tuschke & Rudi Bresser, 2016. "How CEOs protect themselves against dismissal: A social status perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 1107-1117, June.
    8. Mavroudi, Eva & Kesidou, Effie & Pandza, Krsto, 2023. "Effects of ambidextrous and specialized R&D strategies on firm performance: The contingent role of industry orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Xiao, Zhijie & Xu, Lan, 2019. "What do mean impacts miss? Distributional effects of corporate diversification," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 92-120.
    10. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Geoffrey P. Martin, 2022. "Behavioural Agency and Firm Productivity: Revisiting the Incentive Alignment Qualities of Stock Options," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(7), pages 1756-1787, November.
    11. Lucía Garcés-Galdeano & Martin Larraza-Kintana & Cristina Cruz & Ignacio Contín-Pilart, 2017. "Just about money? CEO satisfaction and firm performance in small family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 825-839, December.
    12. Elsaid, Eahab & Davidson III, Wallace N., 2009. "What happens to CEO compensation following turnover and succession?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 424-447, May.
    13. Wu, Xiaojuan & Dluhošová, Dana & Zmeškal, Zdeněk, 2023. "The moderating role of a corporate life cycle with the impact of economic value-added on corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China's listed companies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    14. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.
    15. Colak, Gonul & Korkeamäki, Timo P. & Meyer, Niclas Oskar, 2024. "ESG and CEO turnover around the world," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Olie René & Heijltjes Mariëlle G. & Glunk Ursula, 2003. "Continuity And Renewal At The Top: Performance Effects Of The Level, Extent, Type And Frequency Of Top Management Team Changes," Research Memorandum 059, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    17. Resseger, Matthew, 2022. "The Impact of Land Use Regulation on Racial Segregation: Evidence from Massachusetts Zoning Borders," Working Papers 11220, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    18. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2023. "Trade-Related Government Expenditure and Developing Countries’ Participation in Global Value Chains," Commodities, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Youngtak M. Kim & John R. Busenbark & Seung-Hwan Jeong & Son K. Lam, 2022. "The performance impact of marketing dualities: a response surface approach to resolving empirical challenges," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 915-940, September.
    20. Dinger, Valeriya & te Kaat, Daniel Marcel, 2020. "Cross-border capital flows and bank risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:45:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11747-016-0478-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.