| dc.description.abstract | The role of top managers in shaping the performance of the firms that employ
them represents a central issue to strategic management research. Indeed, a substantial
amount of research has examined potential linkages between the characteristics of top
managers and firm performance. However the empirical results of research in this area
have been ambiguous. This study attempts to theoretically and empirically extend
research on the influence of top managers on firm performance by examining the
relationship between managerial prestige and firm performance in the post-IPO context.
Although upper echelons researchers have attempted to link top managers with
firm performance in the past recent reviews of the upper echelons research note that little
attention has been paid to top management characteristics other than those of top
management team (TMT) heterogeneity, TMT size and TMT tenure. Additionally,
recent reviews also suggest the need to consider potential intervening mechanisms
between TMT characteristics and firm performance. This study addresses these two
limitations of prior upper echelons research by examining the direct and indirect
influences of managerial prestige on post-IPO firm performance.In this study I develop a model which incorporates the resource based view and
resource dependence theory with insights from upper echelons research and research on
the IPO context. Results for the model developed in this study suggest the following.
First, executive undergraduate prestige is positively related to post-IPO firm growth.
The other aspects of managerial prestige examined in this study were not found to
influence post-IPO firm performance. Second, the influence of the key external resource
holders identified in this study, namely prestigious alliance partners and institutional
investors with stable equity portfolios, were found to enhance firm survival rates, but
were negatively associated with firm growth. Third, executive undergraduate prestige
was found to garner the support of prestigious alliance partners. The remaining aspects
of managerial prestige were not found to influence the support of prestigious alliance
partners or dedicated institutional investors. Finally, no support was found for
prestigious alliance partners and dedicated institutional investors as mediators of the
relationship between managerial prestige and post-IPO firm performance. | en |
