Factors in Top Executive Turnover: An Empirical Analysis of the Italian Listed Firms

This paper aims to study the existing link between CEOs turnover and several variables that could explain the exit of a CEO. The survey takes performance measures into account as main variables. Besides performance variables the study includes: ownership structure variables; variables that highlight personal features of a CEO and the composition of the board; firm variables. The number of sampled Italian companies ranges from 134 to 218 over the period 1996-2002. Accounting returns explain the turnover much better than market measures of performance; CEOs of stateowned firms change more frequently than others; the stake of minority shareholders is positively related to the turnover; the presence of syndicates negatively affects the turnover. In Italy, accounting returns “count” much more than market-based performances.