Generalist versus specialist CEO and R&D commitment: Evidence from an emerging market

Abstract

Leveraging the human capital specificity and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-top management team (TMT) interface literature, this study explores the impact of generalist versus specialist CEOs on R&D commitments by Indian firms under the boundary conditions of TMTs’ functional and educational diversity. Based on a sample of 253 firms over a period of 6 years, in contrast to previous studies, our findings suggest that specialist CEOs are more likely to invest in R&D than generalist CEOs; however, when supported by functionally and educationally diverse TMT, the R&D commitment of generalist CEOs increases as well.