Does CEO duality matter when it comes to innovation? A review of empirical literature and emerging perspectives for future research

International Journal of Business Performance Management. 2025. Vol. 26. No. 2. P. 131–151.

Hamza Akorede, Aleksandra Zakharova

The literature on CEO duality and firm performance is ambiguous. This paper aims at substantiating this relationship by structurally reviewing the existing literature on the relationship between CEO duality and a narrower aspect of performance, innovative performance, using a scoping review approach. Like previous review papers on CEO duality and firm performance, our review suggests that this relationship is mixed due to variable choice, method, context, and bias in sample selection. We also discovered a contradiction in the use of agency theory in hypothesis development. Some studies use agency theory to argue that CEOs under duality arrangements will engage in innovation; others argue that they would not due to a lack of board oversight. The contradiction in agency theory and ambiguity in empirical results led to the proposition of a non-duality power framework and future research directions for the advancement of theory.

Keywords: инновационная активность, Innovation performance, систематический обзор литературы, CEO duality, chief executive officer duality, empirical review, emerging perspective, двойственность генерального директора