University of Piraeus. International Strategic Management Association
Abstract
The agency-stewardship theoretical framework posits that CEOs may
choose to act as agents or as stewards. CEOs as agents are economically rational
individuals driven by self-interest, whereas CEOs as stewards are self-actualizing
individuals that behave pro-organizationally. Our study extends this framework to
analyze whether the CEO´s behavior style affects the diversification-performance
relationship. After applying Heckman´s method on a sample of Spanish firms, our
results verify that diversification affects positively on firm performance and such
effect is significantly strong when this strategy is managed and implemented by a
CEO inclined to behave as steward.peer-reviewe
