Are chief executive officers more likely to be first-borns?
Cláudia Custódio1, Stephan Siegel2
1Finance Department, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
Insights
First-born children, particularly males without older brothers, are more likely to become Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). This birth order advantage applies to both family and non-family firms, highlighting a consistent leadership trend.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Business Administration
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Birth order is a significant demographic factor influencing individual development and life outcomes.
- The leadership positions within corporations, such as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), are critical for organizational success.
- Previous research has explored various factors affecting career progression, but the specific impact of birth order on CEO attainment requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the statistical relationship between birth order and the likelihood of an individual becoming a CEO.
- To determine if this relationship differs based on gender or the presence of older siblings.
- To assess whether the findings are consistent across family-owned and non-family-owned businesses.
Main Methods:
- Utilized statistical analysis of demographic data for a cohort of CEOs.
- Compared the birth order distribution of CEOs against expected distributions.
- Segmented analysis by CEO gender and the presence/gender of older siblings.
Main Results:
- CEOs are statistically more likely to be first-born children compared to other birth orders.
- This first-born advantage is observed in both male and female CEOs.
- The effect is stronger when there is no older brother, but not significantly affected by the absence of an older sister.
- The trend is evident in both family and non-family firms, though more pronounced in family businesses.
Conclusions:
- Birth order, specifically being the first-born child, is a predictor of becoming a CEO.
- The absence of an older brother is a key factor contributing to this first-born advantage.
- The findings suggest a consistent, albeit nuanced, role of birth order in corporate leadership across different firm types.
Abstract:
We investigate the link between birth order and the career outcome of becoming Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company. CEOs are more likely to be the first-born, i.e., oldest, child of their family relative to what one would expect if birth order did not matter for career outcomes. Both male and female CEOs are more likely to be first-born. However, the first-born advantage seems to largely reflect the absence of an older brother, but not of an older sister. These results are more pronounced for family firms, where traditionally the oldest child is appointed to run the family business, but also hold for non-family firms.
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