Does a CEO's prior academic experience helpful to an IPO firm? The case of IPO discount

We examine the impact of having a chief executive officer (CEO) with prior academic experience on initial public offering (IPO) discount using a sample of Chinese IPOs. Our findings suggest that IPO firms with previous academic experience CEOs exhibit lower IPO discounts than those without such experience. The results are robust and economically significant. Additional analysis indicates that a firm's information asymmetry level mediates the impact of CEO academic experience on IPO discount and thus supports the notion that a CEO's prior academic experience helps lower the IPO firm's information asymmetry.