The Face of the Firm: How CEOs Influence Corporate Reputations

As firms’ most prominent leaders, CEOs have attracted considerable scholarly attention and are seen to powerfully influence how firms are perceived and evaluated. One important consequence is that perceptions of CEOs are likely to substantially influence the reputations of firms that they lead, but this relationship has not been systematically examined. We develop conceptual arguments regarding CEOs likely influence on corporate reputation, and examine this relationship in a large sample of leading U.S. corporations during 1990-1996. We find that CEO awards and CEO outsider status each positively influence reputational assessments. Implications for corporate reputation and upper echelon theories are discussed.