Quantifying the impact of CEO social media celebrity status on firm value: Novel measures from digital gatekeeping theory

Recent literature has acknowledged the role of CEO social media presence in shaping firm strategic outcomes. We contribute to this literature by invoking the CEO's public recognition on social media as an essential part of the CEO social media presence and examining its impact on firm value. Based on the digital gatekeeping theory, we root on public recognition to develop two new measures of CEO celebrity status on social media: CEO social media prominence and tenor. Our empirical analysis reveals that both measures are positively associated with firm value. Moreover, we find that CEO awards from mass media positively moderate the association between CEO social media prominence and firm value. Our empirical analysis reveals that CEO social media prominence positively relates to firm value via advantages from firm sales, reputation, and risk management, while CEO social media tenor improves firm value via reputation enhancement. Collectively, our evidence suggests that CEO social media celebrity status is an important factor that top leaders and firms impound into their firm social media management strategies.