Chief Executive Officer Proactive Personality and Acquisitions: A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of China's Listed Firms

The role of the CEO in an enterprise's management decisions renders their individual characteristics influential in decisions about mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Personal characteristics are based on many aspects, therefore, we provide a multi-angle insight into the personal characteristics of managers. Drawing on the upper echelons theory, we examine whether CEOs' proactive personality affects merger and acquisition decisions. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is performed using a sample of 64 listed firms in China for the period 2010–2019. There are three solutions for cross-industry mergers, and five for intra-industry mergers. The results suggest that: (a) proactive and overconfident CEOs are inclined toward cross-industry mergers; (b) non-proactive and low-educated CEOs are inclined toward intra-industry mergers; (c) emerging industry enterprises tend to choose intra-industry mergers; (d) overconfident CEOs are more likely to undertake cross-industry mergers in traditional industries.