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Thomas Zellweger
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Zellweger
First name
Thomas
Email
thomas.zellweger@unisg.ch
ORCID
Phone
+41 71 224 71 00
Google Scholar
Now showing
1 - 10 of 61
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PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationOwnership matters! The benefits of appointing the predecessor CEO as board chair in family firm( 2023)How does the appointment of a predecessor CEO as board chair (i.e., predecessor retention) affect post-succession firm performance? Agency theory suggests that firms with predecessor retention underperform compared to firms with other board chairs. We propose a stakeholder perspective rooted in incomplete contracting theory to highlight positive performance effects of predecessor retention. Stakeholders with firm-specific investments are concerned about being held up by new CEOs, which leads to negative stakeholder reactions upon CEO successions and post-succession performance declines. Because predecessor CEOs hold more firm-specific resources than other board chairs, they are well positioned to monitor and advise on stakeholder problems and mitigate performance declines after CEO successions. We identify family firms as a context in which the gains from mitigating negative stakeholder reactions outweigh the agency costs tied to predecessor retention. Probing a sample of CEO successions in the S&P 1500, we find that in family firms, predecessor retention leads to performance advantages over other board chairs, whereas the opposite holds true for nonfamily firms. We show that within the group of family firms, the performance advantages from predecessor retention increase in three contexts in which negative stakeholder reactions are pronounced: in outside CEO successions, in departures of long-tenured CEOs, and in firms with low complexity. Substantiating negative stakeholder reactions as the core mechanism, we show that predecessor retention decreases negative stakeholder reactions after CEO successions in family firms but not in nonfamily firms. Our study makes important contributions to the board chair and CEO succession literatures.Type: conference paperJournal: International Corporate Governance Society Conference, Madrid
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PublicationThe Impact Of Changing Age And Gender Norms On Entrepreneurship: A Cohort StudySocial norms regarding age- and gender-appropriate behaviors exert a strong influence on how entrepreneurs organize their lives. We examine the implications of socio-historical changes in age and gender norms for entrepreneurship by elucidating how the typical life stage at the time of entrepreneurial entry has shifted across socio-historical cohorts of entrepreneurs, as well as how the performance consequences of being married or having children at the time of entrepreneurial entry have changed over time. Based on cohort analyses of US self-employment data from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that individuals today are less likely to be married and to have children when they enter entrepreneurship compared to entrepreneurs in the past. In addition, gender differences in the effect of being married and having children on entrepreneurial performance have decreased over time.Type: conference paperJournal: Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, BCERC Proceedings
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PublicationSuccession processes in family firms: A new perspective( 2023)Succession is the most prominent topic in family business research and the succession path that a family chooses will likely impact the future performance of the business. Yet surprisingly little is known about succession paths⸻the sequence, pace, and rhythm with which management, board, and ownership is transitioned from one generation to the next. Using an inductive, theory-building approach based on sequence analysis and evidence from succession paths in 142 public family firms in the US, we address this gap. Our study reveals nine distinct succession paths with five distinct sequences of how management, board, and ownership transitions are structured over time. These sequences not only vary in their pace and rhythm, but also in their performance consequences. Specifically, we find that family firms with fast-paced succession paths and those with slow-paced, rhythmic succession paths outperform those with irregular rhythms. Further, early-ownership transitions benefit firm performance. Establishing succession paths as a meaningful new concept in family business research, this study not only advances our understanding of the succession phenomenon but also extends our theoretical insights into temporal processes in family firm successions.Type: conference paper
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PublicationType: conference paperJournal: Proceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
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PublicationMake It Or Break It? Founder Social Identity, EO, And New Ventures' Financial Performance( 2022-08)
;Fauchart, Emmanuelle ;Sieger, PhilippType: conference paper -
PublicationMake it or break it? Founder social identity, EO, and new ventures' financial performance( 2022-08)
;Fauchart, EmmanuelleType: conference paper -
PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationCEO divorce and firm performance – The role of CEO’s family situation( 2020)
;Hellerstedt, KarinWe investigate the impact of CEO divorce on firm performance and examine how this relationship depends on the CEO’s life stage and the involvement of the CEO’s family in the firm. Using data from Statistics Sweden covering the period from 2004 to 2014, we tested our hypotheses using a difference-in-difference design on a matched sample of 2,336 firms, most of which are small firms. With our results we contribute to upper echelons theory by showing that CEO divorce negatively affects firm performance, and that this relationship strongly depends on the length of the marriage, the presence of children, as well as whether the CEO’s spouse and children work in the firm. We show that under certain conditions CEO divorce can even have a positive impact on firm performance, in particular in the presence of CEO’s children in the firm.Type: conference paperJournal: Proceedings of the 80th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management