Becoming the CEO: the CEO identity construction process in the transition of newly appointed chief executives

摘要

This study investigates the personal experience of newly appointed chief executives intransitioning into the CEO role. Adopting an exploratory qualitative design, data wasobtained from two semi-structured interviews with 19 newly appointed chief executives,for a total of 38 interviews.The main contribution of this thesis to the extant literature is to show the ways in whichCEOs go through an identity construction process when transitioning into the role, whichis characterized in two ways. First, there exists a bi-directionality of influence between thepersonal identity of the CEO and the organizational identity. Second, this processcomprises strong identity demands (lack of specificity of the role and weak situation) andidentity tensions (personal identity intrusion and identity transparency) that dispose newCEOs towards an unbalance that promotes individuality.This disequilibrium might hinder the integration of new chief executives into theorganization, since the data suggests that new CEOs are responsible for fostering theirown integration by connecting aspects of their personal identity with the identity andculture of the organization. The thesis offers a theoretical model of the CEO identityconstruction process and concludes with a series of propositions that address theramifications of these findings to our understanding of CEO succession.