UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Research on CEO personality suggests that executive personality can affect corporate behavior and performance. Yet, research on the role of CMO personality is limited. This study analyses the relationship between CMO personality and firm innovation outcomes. We assess CMO personality traits by applying textual analysis to more than 28,000 earnings call transcripts. Combining various data sources and estimating fixed effects models, our initial results suggest that CMO personality affects firm innovation, even when controlling for CEO personality traits. Furthermore, we observe a relationship between CEO and CMO personalities. A key implication of this study is that the personality of the CMO is relevant to a firm’s marketing strategy.