Narcissism is a bad sign: CEO signature size, investment, and performance

Ham, Charles; Seybert, Nicholas; Wang, Sean

doi:10.1007/s11142-017-9427-x

Cited by 222 publications

(293 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…[], Chou []) and that narcissists exhibit a desire to distinguish themselves from others (Lee, Gregg, and Park []). Similarly, Ham, Seybert, and Wang [] document a significant positive association between signature size and narcissism for a sample of business graduate students, and Dillon [] finds that subjects who embellish their signatures tend to have significantly higher narcissism scores than those who do not.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 Second, we extend the literature 7 An exception is with respect to real earnings management, which is correlated with both CFO and CEO signature size. It is not surprising that CEO traits would be associated with real earnings management because real operating decisions fall within the scope of the CEO and prior research suggests that CEO narcissism is associated with firm-level investment and performance (Ham, Seybert, and Wang [2017]) and real earnings management (Olsen, Dworkis, and Young [2014]). 8 Our analysis is closest in spirit to Ge, Matsumoto, and Zhang [2011], who find that CFOfixed effects have explanatory power for financial reporting outcomes, but that demographic focusing on CEO effects on corporate decision-making.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See also Snyder and Fromkin [], Dillon [], Kettle and Haubl [], Shu et al. [], Lee, Gregg, and Park [], Ham, Seybert, and Wang [], and Chou [].…”

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confidence: 99%

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CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

Ham

Lang

Seybert

et al. 2017

J of Accounting Research

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307

266

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We investigate the effect of CFO narcissism, as measured by signature size, on financial reporting quality. Experimentally, we validate that narcissism predicts misreporting behavior, and that signature size predicts misreporting through its association with narcissism. Empirically, we examine notarized CFO signatures and find CFO narcissism is associated with more earnings management, less timely loss recognition, weaker internal control quality, and a higher probability of restatements. The results are consistent for within‐firm comparisons focusing on CFO changes and are robust to controlling for CFO overconfidence and CEO narcissism. The results highlight the importance of CFO characteristics in the domain of financial reporting decisions.

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Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

Ham

Lang

Seybert

et al. 2017

J of Accounting Research

Self Cite

307

266

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“…Specifically, larger signature sizes are associated with ego, dominance, status, and self-esteem [1–3]. A study of 53 graduate students found a strong correlation ( r = 0.45; P < .001) between signature size and a validated narcissistic personality questionnaire [4]. Two recent studies of more than 500 publicly traded companies found that larger signature size among chief executive officers is associated with lower company sales and larger signature size among chief financial officers is associated with lower quality of financial reporting [4,5].…”

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confidence: 99%

Is Signature Size Associated With Organ Donor Designation on Driver's Licenses?

Sehgal

Sullivan

Scallan

et al. 2016

Transplantation Proceedings

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Introduction Previous studies suggest that large signature size is associated with narcissistic characteristics. By contrast, organ donation is an indicator of altruism. Because altruism and narcissism may be viewed as opposites, we sought to determine if smaller signature size is associated with willingness to be an organ donor. Methods Using a cross-sectional study design, we reviewed the health records of 571 randomly selected primary care patients at a large urban safety-net medical system to obtain their demographic and medical characteristics. We also examined driver’s licenses that were scanned into electronic health records as part of the patient registration process. We measured signature sizes and obtained the organ donor designation from these driver’s licenses. Results Overall, 256 (45%) patients were designated as donors on their driver’s licenses. Signature size averaged 113.3 mm2 but varied greatly across patients (10th percentile 49.1 mm2, 90th percentile 226.1 mm2). On multivariate analysis, donor designation was positively associated with age 18–34 years, non–black race, having private insurance, and not having any comorbid conditions. However, signature size was not associated with organ donor designation. Conclusions Signature size is not associated with verified organ donor designation. Further work is needed to understand the relationship between personality types and willingness to be an organ donor.

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“…They emphasized that showing predictive validity (i.e., finding a relationship between a proxy measure and firm-level outcomes) does not prove the proxy is measuring the underlying construct we are inferring it to measure. Is the size of a CEO's signature really measuring one's narcissistic tendencies (Ham et al, 2013)? Does having a pilot license a good proxy for CEO risk propensity (Cain & McKeon, 2012)?…”

Section: Urged Uppermentioning

confidence: 99%

CEO Humility: Development of an Unobtrusive Measure and Strategic Implications

Beauchesne¹

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Narcissism is a bad sign: CEO signature size, investment, and performance

Cited by 222 publications

References 63 publications

CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

Is Signature Size Associated With Organ Donor Designation on Driver's Licenses?

CEO Humility: Development of an Unobtrusive Measure and Strategic Implications

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