Effects of M&A Type on Top Management Turnover: Moderating Role of Industry Similarity & Target Experience

Abstract

Based on samples of domestic and inbound merger and acquisitions (M&A) in the United States from 2010 to 2020, this study explores whether different M&A types have differing effects on the turnover rates of CEOs and non-CEO top management teams (TMT) in target firms. The study contributes to the antecedent theory of top management turnover. The results showed that, compared with domestic M&As, cross-border M&As reduced the turnover rate of CEOs and non-CEO teams. Furthermore, in technology-intensive cross-border M&As, industry similarity had an obvious negative moderating effect on decreasing CEO turnover rates, and the M&A experience of the target firms had a positive moderating effect on reducing the overall turnover rate in the target TMT.