Do Family CEOs Improve U.S. Family Business Performance?

Abstract

Family CEOs have a complicated and multifaceted impact on company performance. Specifically, it can positively or negatively influence a firm's sustainability, market position, and financial performance. Nevertheless, prior studies have yet to analyze the link between family CEOs and firm performance before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses used panel models and the Generalized Method of Moments for 55 U.S. companies from 2017 to 2021. We found that family-owned CEOs may hurt firm performance. Furthermore, there is a statistically significant positive link between COVID-19 and company performance in the post-COVID era, even though the ratio of accounting earnings was not significantly impacted by the COVID-19 during the pandemic. However, firm age has a negative effect on the firm performance. The other variables are all insignificant. Insights from our paper indicate that family CEOs should perform an analysis to understand their performance factors. Therefore, CEOs can foster more successful and long-lasting strategies by implementing these factors.