International experience as a preferred attribute for CEO appointment. Chances to executive career development.

Limited research is available on internationality as a preferred attribute for CEO selection. This paper contributes to the human capital literature by focusing on the impact of executive international experience and contingency aspects (i.e., origin, function, and industry) on CEO appointment. Leveraging a dataset of Dutch and Swiss executives over the five-year period from 2008-2012, which provided 302 individual-firm-year combinations, we discovered that international experience indeed represents a preferred attribute for CEO appointment. We found that while output functional background decreases the odds of appointment, a throughput functional background does not enhance them. Our findings are relevant for the human capital literature and allow for a more refined understanding of international experience and regional effects. Managerial implications and future research opportunities are also discussed.