Faces and Fraud: CEO Facial Masculinity and Firm Financial Misconduct
Restricted (Penn State Only)
Author:
Neely, Brett Hamilton
Graduate Program:
Psychology
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
November 13, 2020
Committee Members:
Samuel Todd Hunter, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Samuel Todd Hunter, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Alicia Ann Grandey, Committee Member Kisha Shannon Jones, Committee Member Aparna Anand Joshi, Outside Member Kristin Ann Buss, Program Head/Chair
Keywords:
Leadership Upper Echelons Theory CEO Masculinity
Abstract:
This study utilized upper echelons theory (Hambrick & Mason, 1984) to investigate the impact that male Chief Executive Officers’ facial masculinity has on an illicit form of firm strategic action, financial misconduct (i.e., fraud). Due to the broad negative impact that financial misconduct can have on an organization, its members, and society more broadly, financial misconduct is an area of sustained interest to academics and organizations alike. Drawing on relevant psychological, sociological, and management research, I propose a model in which male CEO masculinity predicts the likelihood of their firm engaging in financial misconduct. In doing so, I propose and test two contextual moderators that are rooted in the strategic management literature and which are of relevance when it comes to masculinity threat: performance threat and the sex composition of the environment in which they lead. The results indicate that a CEOs facial masculinity relates positively to the likelihood of their organization engaging in fraud. None of the moderators tested significantly predicted the likelihood of fraud occurring. The findings of this study have implications for the literatures on the upper echelons, diversity and leadership, and firm misconduct.
