Research

Manuscripts Under Review

Firm Performance and CEO Dismissal: A Necessary Condition Investigation 

• with Ryan Krause (U. of Iowa)

• Revise & Resubmit (2nd round) at Journal of Management

• Finalist Best Methods Paper,  AMJ & CARMA Research Methods Paper Development Workshop (March 2025).

ABSTRACT

Extensive scholarship has shown that poor firm performance increases the probability of CEO dismissal. Agency theory provides a ready explanation for this relationship: CEOs are the agents of shareholders, and the board of directors who acts on shareholders’ behalf will replace the CEO if the CEO is failing to advance shareholders’ interests. Much of the literature on CEO dismissal assumes that poor firm performance is a necessary precondition, but the limitations of traditional statistical methods have not permitted direct testing of this assumption. Thus, we raise the question of whether poor firm performance is necessary for a CEO to be dismissed. We propose that a CEO will not be dismissed if their firm is performing at a high level, regardless of the stated reason for the dismissal. A Necessary Condition Analysis of S&P 1500 firms from 2000 to 2021 shows that CEO dismissal occurs only if an organization’s total shareholder return is relatively low. In contrast, poor return on assets shows limited evidence as a necessary condition for CEO dismissal. We explore these findings across different operationalizations, time periods, and types of dismissal.

Keywords: CEO dismissal; CEO succession; firm performance; performance measurement; necessary condition analysis.

Publications

The Role of Employee Ownership, Financial Participation and Decision Making in Corporate Governance: A Multilevel Review and Research Agenda. 

• with Alessandro Zattoni (LUISS)

• Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2025, 33(3)  https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12614

Three Essays on Structural Power in Corporate Governance: A Critique and Reappraisal [Ph.D. Dissertation]

• Finalist (top 3), Society for Business Ethics (SBE) Best Dissertation Award, 2026 

(Final decision pending at the July 2026 SBE Annual Conference.)

Selected Work in Progress

Predecessor Intent and the Asymmetric Logic of CEO Dismissal 

• with Ryan Krause (U Iowa) & Alessandro Zattoni (LUISS)

How Critical is Critical Mass? 

• with Rajdeep Chakraborti (Durham University)

Theorizing by Necessity and the Problem of Scarcity