Towards the Finish Line: Marathon CEOs, Strategic Persistence and Firm Performance

In response to the recent call in the upper echelons research for more attention to executives’ off-the-job experiences, this study examines an interestingly prevailing facet in CEOs’ personal lives: running-marathons. Running marathons shapes not only CEOs’ physical fitness but also their cognitions and values, affecting their firms’ decisions and outcomes. Specifically, we examine how a CEO’s running a marathon is associated with his/her firm’s strategic persistence and firm performance under various environmental conditions. We tested our predictions using a unique, hand collected dataset from the World Marathon Majors (WMM) participation records during 2009-2019. Our results suggest a positive relationship between marathon CEO and firm strategic persistence. Moreover, the relationship between marathon CEO and strategic persistence turns stronger when the CEO runs more marathons and when the CEO run marathons for longer time. Finally, we find that when environmental adversity is high, there is a positive relationship between marathon CEO and firm performance. However, when environmental dynamism is high, the relationship between marathon CEO and firm performance becomes negative. Implications to upper echelons theory and strategic leadership literature are discussed.