Try to Do Something Creative: How CEOs’ Creative Hobbies Affect Firm Innovation

Abstract

The extant research has paid increasing attention to the off-the-job activities of corporate executives. However, most studies have focused on the risky hobbies and their effects on firm risk-taking while neglected important relationships between other kinds of hobbies and firm outcomes. This study highlights CEOs’ creative hobbies and investigates their effects on firm innovation. Using a national survey on the various hobbies of CEOs across multiple industries, we obtain strong evidence that firms led by CEOs who have creative hobbies outperform those with CEOs without creative hobbies in innovation. These relationships become stronger when the CEO has to face higher job demand for innovation and engages in better behavioral integration with top management team members off-the-job. We contribute by opening a new arena and uncovering the relevance of CEO creative hobbies.