CEO human capital and economic performance: Evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

Drawing on upper echelon theory and the resource-based view, this study examines the impact of CEO human capital on economic corporate performance. Our sample consists of 561 Vietnamese firms listed on Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Stock Exchange, over the period from 2009 to 2015. We use a wide range of components of CEO human capital, including CEOs' educational background, generalist skills or specialist skills, experience (foreign experience, working experience in state-owned enterprises, age, and the number of years in CEO position), social relationship and gender. We document that several aspects of CEO human capital influence significantly corporate economic performance. Based on the historical background of Vietnamese listed firms, we conduct further analysis for both groups of firms, state-owned and non-state-owned, and find that there are some differences in the impact of CEO human capital components on firm performance between the groups.