The Chief Financial Officer's Characteristics and the Impacts on Driving Organization's Future: The Upper Echelons Theory

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and their roles in driving an organization's future. This study is based on the Upper Echelons Theory, which states that the characteristics of management influence organizational outcomes. A survey was conducted with 81 CFOs from publicly traded companies, private domestic firms, and foreign multinational corporations from various industries in Thailand. The study investigated how CFO characteristics such as years of experience and educational background influenced defined CFO roles. Our study found no significant impact of CFO educational background on their roles. Years of experience in the CFO position had a significant impact on roles such as managing risk, delivering business performance, assessing investment efficiency, leading digital transformation, and maintaining integrity and ethics roles. This study advances the ability to predict organizational outcomes beyond existing theories. By taking into account their CFO characteristics, our findings can be used to forecast targeted companies or competitors on a move with a projection. The findings of our research are relevant and broadly applicable to an international audience, owing to the mixed nationality of CFO respondents and the variety of company origins.