CEO hubris and strategic change initiation: an attention-based view

Purpose This study aims to examine how chief executive officer (CEO) hubris influences strategic change initiation. Drawing on the attention-based view to complement upper echelons theory, the authors propose that hubristic CEOs, driven by confidence and ambition, selectively focus their attention on strategic opportunities and ambitious actions, thereby increasing the likelihood that firms initiate strategic change. This study further draws on situated attention and structural distribution of attention to examine the boundary conditions of this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected panel data of S&P 500 firms from 2017 to 2019 and tested the hypotheses using firm fixed-effects models. Findings The results show that CEO hubris is positively associated with strategic change initiation. However, this effect is weakened when top management teams exhibit high uncertainty avoidance or when firms are family-owned. Originality/value This study advances research on CEO characteristics by integrating the attention-based view with upper echelons theory to explain how CEO hubris shapes strategic change initiation through managerial attention allocation. This study also provides a better understanding of the boundary conditions that influence hubristic CEOs’ attention to organizational strategic change initiation.