CEO Personal Traits and Company Performance: Evidence from Russia

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of CEO positive traits, particularly transformational leadership and vision, on firm performance. Despite substantial literature acknowledging the significance of leadership traits on organizational out-comes, there remains a gap in understanding the explicit role of a CEO's vision and how it influences firm performance. Our study aims to address this gap, focusing on the empirical linkage between the CEO's vision and a firm's return on assets (ROA). To find the empirical evidence 35 companies were selected. The CEO’s letters to shareholders from annual reports were investigated using the LIWC-22 program to estimate the CEO’s positive characteristics. The findings reveal a significant positive relationship between the CEO's vision and firm performance, suggesting that organizations led by visionary CEOs tend to perform better. These results carry practical implications, emphasizing the importance of fostering visionary leadership qualities within CEOs to drive organizational success. The study contributes to the extant literature on transformational leadership, offering a nuanced understanding of the role of vision and laying the groundwork for future research in this area.