Who's in the Room? Role Configurations in Top Management Teams

Upper Echelons Theory suggests that organizational outcomes reflect the characteristics of top executives, yet researchers have focused predominantly on who occupies leadership positions rather than what positions firms create. This study examines top management team (TMT) role structure—the configuration of formal executive positions—at the initial public offering (IPO). Analyzing 1,385 U.S. firms completing IPOs between 2000 and 2022, this study documents prevalent TMT role configurations and their variation across industries and time using a legally grounded definition based on SEC S-1 filings. Among the sample, 285 unique configurations were identified, suggesting considerable structural heterogeneity across firms. An exploratory performance analysis finds little evidence that configuration membership predicts post-IPO ROA. These findings offer an early empirical look at a dimension of TMT research that scholars have called for but not yet systematically examined.