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Guided by Upper Echelons Theory, the analysis tests how CEO age, tenure, gender, founder status, and appointment origin affect ROA, ROE, and market-to-book. Fixed and random effects models support inference, while random forest and XGBoost identify trait importance. Results show tenure improves ROE and ROA, whereas age and founder status reduce performance. The work finds female CEOs raise market valuation in emerging markets under interaction models. Firm size and leverage dominate CEO effects in explaining outcomes, especially in machine-learning rankings. By combining feature importance, the study informs CEO evaluation and prioritization of leadership traits for succession planning, diversity policy, and performance-based appointments.","Do CEO traits matter? A machine learning analysis across emerging and developed markets  \nNwafor, Chioma; Nwafor, Obumneme Zimuzor; Omenihu, Chinonyerem Matilda; Abdrakhmanova, Madina  \nPublished in:  \nAdministrative Sciences  \nDOI:  \n10.3390/admsci15070268  \nPublication date:  \n2025  \nDocument Version  \nPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of record  \nLink to publication in ResearchOnline  \nCitation for published version (Harvard):  \nNwafor, C, Nwafor, OZ, Omenihu, CM & Abdrakhmanova, M 2025, 'Do CEO traits matter? A machine learning analysis across emerging and developed markets', Administrative Sciences, vol. 15, no. 7, 268. [https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15070268](https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15070268)  \nGeneral rights  \nCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.  \nTake down policy  \nIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please view our takedown policy at [https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5179 for details](https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5179 for details)[ ](https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5179 for details)[of how to contact us.](of how to contact us.)  \nDownload date: 31. Jul. 2025  \nArticle  \nDo CEO Traits Matter? A Machine Learning Analysis Across Emerging and Developed Markets  \nChioma Ngozi Nwafor *, Obumneme Z. Nwafor, Chinonyerem Matilda Omenihu  and Madina Abdrakhmanova  \nReceived: 9 June 2025  \nRevised: 3 July 2025  \nAccepted: 8 July 2025  \nPublished: 10 July 2025  \nCitation: Nwafor, C. N.,  \nNwafor, O. Z., Omenihu, C. M., & Abdrakhmanova, M. (2025) . Do CEO Traits Matter? A Machine Learning Analysis Across Emerging and Developed Markets. Administrative Sciences, 15(7), 268. [https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/)[ ](https://doi.org/)[10.3390/admsci15070268](10.3390/admsci15070268)  \nCopyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://creativecommons.org/](https://creativecommons.org/)[ ](https://creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by/4.0/](licenses/by/4.0/)) .  \nDepartment of Law, Economics, Accountancy and Risk, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK; [obumneme.nwafor@gcu.ac.uk](obumneme.nwafor@gcu.ac.uk) (O.Z.N.); [chinonyeremmatilda.omenihu@gcu.ac.uk](chinonyeremmatilda.omenihu@gcu.ac.uk) (C.M.O.);  \n[madina.sara@gcu.ac.uk](madina.sara@gcu.ac.uk) (M.A.)  \n* Correspondence: [chioma.nwafor@gcu.ac.uk](chioma.nwafor@gcu.ac.uk)  \nAbstract  \nThis study investigates the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm performance across emerging and developed economies using both panel regression and machine learning techniques. Drawing on Upper Echelons Theory, we examine whether CEO age, tenure, gender, founder status, and appointment origin influence Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and market-to-book ratio. We apply the fixed and random effects models for inference and deploy random forest and XGBoost models to determine the feature importance of each CEO trait. Our findings show that CEO tenure consistently predicts improved ROE and ROA, while CEO age and founder status negatively affect firm performance. Female CEOs, though not consistently significant in the baseline models, positively influence market valuation in emerging markets according to interaction models. Firm-level characteristics such as size and leverage dominate CEO traits in explaining performance outcomes, especially in machine learning rankings. By integrating machine learning feature importance, this study contributes an original approach to CEO evaluation, enabling firms and policymakers to prioritise leadership traits that matter most. The findings have practical implications for succession planning, diver","cbCaifs929zwspiN","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifs929zwspiN","pdf",2140266,1,24,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Theoretical background and CEO role\n## Research gaps and study approach","[{\"question\":\"What are the key findings regarding CEO tenure, age, founder status, and gender?\",\"answer\":\"CEO tenure consistently predicts improved ROE and ROA. CEO age and founder status negatively affect firm performance. Female CEOs show positive influence on market valuation in emerging markets in interaction models, though baseline significance is not consistent.\"}]","Do CEO Traits Matter? - A Machine Learning Analysis Across Emerging and Developed Markets | PDF",1785735507,60,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":28},"do-ceo-traits-matter-a-machine-learning-analysis-across-emerging-and-developed-markets","",{"@graph":36,"@context":77},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/do-ceo-traits-matter-a-machine-learning-analysis-across-emerging-and-developed-markets/121401/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-03",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What are the key findings regarding CEO tenure, age, founder status, and gender?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"CEO tenure consistently predicts improved ROE and ROA. 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Female CEOs show positive influence on market valuation in emerging markets in interaction models, though baseline significance is not consistent.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":79,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":84},[85,89,93,97,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":98,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":29,"slug":100},5,"Comic","comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":129},19,"General","general"]