Sharing Strategic Decisions: CEO Humility, TMT Decentralization, and Ethical Culture

Sebastian Cortes-Mejia, Andres Felipe Cortes, Pol Herrmann

Journal of Business Ethics · 2022 · Volume 178 · Issue 1

Abstract

Humility is increasingly recognized as an essential attribute for individuals at top management levels to build successful organizations. However, research on CEO humility has focused on how humble chief executive officers (CEOs) shape collective perceptions through their interactions and behaviors with other organizational members while overlooking CEOs’ critical role in making strategic decisions. We address this unexplored aspect of CEO humility by proposing that humble CEOs influence decision-making decentralization at the top management team (TMT) and subsequently promote an organizational ethical culture. Using a sample of CEOs and TMT members from 120 small- and medium-sized enterprises, we find strong support for our hypotheses. We discuss important implications for research on CEO humility and strategic leadership.

Keywords

CEO humility, Top management team (TMT), Decentralization, Ethical culture, Upper echelons

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