View article

Extant research suggests that relative to inside CEOs, outside CEOs are more likely to initiate strategic changes, yet extant theorizing also suggests that outsiders may be less equipped to do so due to their lack of firm-specific knowledge. Focusing on this dilemma, we examine how CEOs’ origin influences firms’ post-acquisition performance and how the temporal distance between the succession and acquisition, CEO acquisition experience, and TMT turnover shape this relationship. Based on data from 937 acquisitions, we find that outside CEOs are negatively associated with post-acquisition performance. We also find that this relationship weakens as the time between succession and acquisition increases and as CEO acquisition experience increases, but is strengthened as TMT turnover increases.