{"id":8528,"date":"2026-04-24T14:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?p=8528"},"modified":"2026-04-24T14:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:35:05","slug":"how-values-drive-executives-words-and-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-values-drive-executives-words-and-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"How Values Drive Executives\u2019 Words and Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

It can be challenging to understand why politicians or CEOs make their decisions or interpret their actions.<\/p>\n

But a lot of how CEOs navigate their celebrity and public messaging about their decisions, plans, and vision \u201ccomes down to values,\u201d said Academy of Management Scholar Jeffrey Lovelace<\/a> of the University of Virginia. He, Jonathan Bundy, Donald C. Hambrick, and Timothy G. Pollock coauthored an Academy of Management Review research article<\/a> on celebrity CEOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a lot of interesting work on ideology, and we have learned a lot from it, including that ideology is highly contextualized, for example, liberal versus conservative in the United States and left versus right globally,\u201d Lovelace said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we think about the question, \u2018What are the values that are actually driving these executives to make decisions?\u2019, perhaps we\u2019ll be better positioned to understand exactly why CEOs make certain decisions when managing complex issues and public perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key question is: Are a CEO\u2019s words and actions primarily driven by a desire to maximize profitability or power, or are there ideological or values-based motivations at play?
\n\u201cIs it really about the self-versus-other focus, a more collective or more individualistic type of leadership approach?\u201d Lovelace said. \u201cAre decisions or public statements more about the idea of the need for power than they are about some sort of ideological perspective that\u2019s driving this?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are some of these foundational values that are actually driving these decisions?\u201d he said. \u201cFinding answers to those questions can give us incredible insight into these CEOs\u2019 proclamations and behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only would they be useful for us, but they\u2019re much more generalizable across contexts, and so we would be able to better understand things, not only within the U.S.-based context, but tying them to these overarching values instead of to ideologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, getting back to the foundations of values can allow researchers and analysts to draw parallels from President Donald Trump\u2019s MAGA movement in the United States\u2014and the CEOs who have publicly supported it\u2014to the trends in Europe, including the anti-immigration\/nativist, conservative\/right-wing political movements that have gained traction in the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Finland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on there? What are the values of European politicians and business leaders, and how are they driving these decisions in very uncertain times?\u201d Lovelace said.
\n\u201cValues are playing a key role in what a lot of these executives are deciding to do in the current and political environment that we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sample of Lovelace\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n