A study of chief executive officer (CEO) turnover in Vietnam: The link between firm performance and CEO turnover

Abstract

In general, CEO turnover has been researched widely following numerous studies in developed countries. Nevertheless, the determinants of CEO turnover are still unclear in transition countries of which the legal and regulatory framework are weak and financial systems and corporate governance are underdeveloped. Therefore, examining determinants of CEO turnover in Vietnam, a transition country, helps to provide more evidence on the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate governance in transition countries. Furthermore, the examination helps to define weaknesses, and it, therefore, could provide guidance to improve corporate governance in Vietnamese enterprises. Particularly, the thesis investigates the CEO turnover in Vietnam following the research philosophy of positivism paradigms and deductive approach. Further, it implied logistics regression in order to evaluate the influences of factors on CEO turnover in Vietnamese-listed enterprises. The sample of the thesis, including 156 listed firms at the end of 2006 in Hanoi and HoChiMinh Securities Centres, 780 firm-year observations have been conducted. Among 780 observations, there are 88 CEO turnovers occurred during the observed period from 2006 to 2010. The main findings of the thesis show that firm performance had significant inverse relationship with the likelihood of CEO turnover. Meanwhile, the influence of ownership structure on CEO turnover was insignificant. Interestingly, aged CEOs in Vietnamese-listed enterprises were more likely to be dismissed than young CEOs. Additionally, the probability of CEO turnover significantly increased when CEOs reached the ages of 59-61. The certain age also reduced the influence of CEO duality on CEO turnover. Together, CEO ownership negatively influenced the sensitivities of the link between firm performance and CEO turnover, although the influence is insignificant when CEOs own less than 5% of firm shares. Importantly, the thesis provides the significant and positive relationship between the percentage of independent directors and CEO turnover. Based on those findings, the thesis concludes that the efficiency of corporate governance and effectiveness of management are able to improve by increasing the independence of the Board of Management rather than other factors.