Abstract
New research from emlyon business school shows that hiring a successive CEO who is a different gender to the outgoing CEO often negatively affects firm performance, however hiring a CEO who is the same gender as the one before ensures the firm continues to perform well. Interestingly, no matter what the combination of outgoing CEO to successor – male-to-male, male-to-female, female-to-male or female-to-female – it is only when the gender of the CEO changes, that negative effects on the firm’s performance arise, due to the change.