Is an overconfident CEO good for advertising investments?

In this study, we identify a link between CEO overconfidence and advertising investments by examining the specific impact overconfident CEOs have on stock market responses to new TV commercial announcements. Furthermore, we investigate whether family ownership moderates this relationship. Our results reveal a negative correlation between CEO overconfidence and stock market performance, and that family ownership magnifies this negative relationship. Our study thus highlights the role CEOs’ personal attributes have on influencing investors’ assessments of corporate advertising investments and reveals there is a potential for family ownership to intensify this negative relationship between CEO overconfidence and the market value of new advertising investments.