Family firm CEOs: human capital and career success

Abstract

This article explores the influence of education and experience on the time to the top in family and non-family CEOs who work for Latin American family firms. In order to achieve these objectives, this study draws upon human capital theory as well as career and family firm literature. The careers of 129 CEOs of family firms who form part of the América Economía ranking were analyzed and quantitative methods were used. In Latin American family firms, family CEOs reach the top faster than their non-family counterparts. In addition, the influence of human capital variables on the way to the top differs between the two groups. For family CEOs, obtaining a graduate degree delays the way to the top, while for non-family ones, it reduces the time to the top. As regards experience, for promoted family CEOs, the greater the percentage of the career spent in the organization they lead, the shorter the time to the top. No support was found for either the influence of having worked for just one firm or having had elite graduate education abroad, in multilatina CEOs. Individual career management suggestions for future CEOs as well as specific guidelines for talent managers are proposed. This is the first study to explore the influence of human capital indicators on the time to the top in Latin American family firm CEOs.