CEO duality and apprentice successions: exploring the role of leadership structure in impression management

This study contributes to the CEO duality and impression management literature by exploring the role of leadership structure in impression management behavior. Drawing on agency theory and the earnings management literature, we explore impression management within duality and apprentice successions under conditions of underperformance. Based on a sample of underperforming CEO succession events at S&P 500 companies from 2002 to 2007, we find that (1) an individual combining the functions of CEO and board leadership position is more likely to engage in impression management, using an overly positive rhetoric about firm performance, (2) the relationship between duality and impression management is weakened when net earnings growth is negative, and (3) successions in which the outgoing CEO remains chair are effective in weakening impression management.