Outside CEOs and restaurant performance: the moderating effect of franchising and recession

Purpose This paper aims to explore the effect of hiring outside chief executive officers (CEOs) on restaurant performance. As outside CEOs have a mandate to bring changes but lack internal knowledge, this study expected that outside CEOs impose a significant influence on restaurant performance. It was further expected that the relationship is substantially moderated by franchising and recession. Design/methodology/approach The CEO data was manually collected from firms’ annual filings and the EXECOMP database. The COMPUSTAT database was used for company financial data. A two-way panel regression was used to examine the proposed relationships. Findings The results revealed that outside CEOs have a positive effect on growth but a negative effect on restaurant profitability. It was further turned out that franchising significantly moderates the outside CEO-performance relationship. However, the moderating effect of recession turned out to be insignificant. Practical implications The results suggested that outside CEOs play a critical role in determining restaurant performance. The results further imply that franchising helps to maximize the positive effect of outside CEOs while mitigating the adverse effects of outside CEOs. Originality/value This study is one of the first to examine the effect of outside CEOs in the hospitality context. Moreover, this study extended the literature by revealing the relationship in the restaurant industry and highlighting the importance of long-term organizational context.