Work

Academic CEOs and corporate innovation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In this article, we examine the impact of academic CEOs (i.e., CEOs with academic experience) on corporate innovation. We find that firms managed by academic CEOs have strong aspirations for innovation and generate more patents with higher citations. We employ exogenous CEO turnover to alleviate endogeneity concerns. In addition, whereas corporate innovation gradually increases following the entry of new academic CEOs, there is a clear decrease in innovation output after the departure of academic CEOs. This net effect concentrates in innovation‐intensive industries. Moreover, academic CEOs enhance innovation by leveraging their network with academic community and ability to secure government funding.

Source: The Journal of Financial Research

DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12469

Authors: George J. Jiang, Wenquan Li, Yaohua Li, He Wang

Institutions: Washington State University, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, University of Glasgow, Southern University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Firm Innovation and Growth

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W4410898726

FWCI: 3.755

Cites: 84

Cited by: 5

Related to: 10