CORPORATE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AS A MEDIATOR OF THE EFFECT OF CEO's CHARACTERISTICS ON SHARE PRICES: EVIDENCE FROM AN EMERGING ECONOMY
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Date
2024-03-09
Authors
Samah Ghassan Abdalhamid Qarmash
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Abstract
Abstract
This study aimed to capture the impact of chief executive officers’ characteristics on a company’s share price, and to explore whether the sustainable growth rate (SGR) mediates the relationship between CEO characteristics and share price using a combination of upper echelons theory, signaling theory, and agency theory. CEO characteristics included in this study are CEO education, experience, turnover, and age. This study employed a quantitative approach. The research sample consisted of 43 industrial corporations; 11 of them are listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange (PEX) and 32 are listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period 2016–2022, resulting in 301 observations. The data was analyzed using multivariate regression analysis, to examine the direct relationship hypotheses. Moreover, for testing the mediating role of the SGR hypothesis, the casual steps method and a Sobel test were applied. The study found a significant relationship between CEO characteristics and share price, where CEO age has a significant and negative association with share price, while CEO education, experience and turnover had an insignificant relationship. The study found a significant relationship between CEO characteristics and SGR, Regarding the Sobel test results, the study found that SGR's mediating role in the relationship between CEO education, turnover, age, and share price is insignificant. It was also found that SGR only diminishes the strength of the relationship between CEO experience and share price. Regarding the control variables, firm size and leverage had a negative association with share price, while firm age had a positive relationship with share price. This study provides an important contribution to explaining the causal relationship between CEO characteristics and share price, as only a few scholars have discussed possible mediator variables that can transmit the impact of CEO characteristics on share price and that can better explain how these two variables are related. The study assists investors and regulators in Palestine and Jordan in their investment decisions by considering the impact of CEO attributes on firm strategies and share prices, thus improving firms' value. The study's limitations include excluding other sectors and requiring larger samples. And the researcher recommends examining other CEO attributes, other mediating variables, and top management team characteristics in future research.
Keywords: Chief executive officer's characteristics, sustainable growth rate, share price, Palestine Stock Exchange, Amman Stock Exchange, emerging economy.