| By: |
Bryson, Alex (University College London);
Buraimo, Babatunde (University of Liverpool);
Farnell, Alex (Lancaster University);
Simmons, Rob (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: |
One expects those who lead organisations to affect their performance. If not
why would organisations spend so much time and money appointing and
incentivising their leaders? Yet there is little evidence establishing a
causal link between leaders and organisational performance. Using game-by-game
linked employer-employee data for professional football in four countries over
fifteen seasons we compare the performance of teams after they have sacked
their Head Coach with spells where the Head Coach remains in post. We
undertake a similar exercise comparing performance after a Head Coach quits
with that of teams where the Head Coach remains in post. We deal with the
endogeneity of Coach departures using entropy balancing to reweight teams'
performance prior to the departure of a Coach so that trends in team
performance prior to the departure match spells which ended with a Coach
remaining in post. Consistent with theory, Head Coach quits have little or no
impact on team performance whereas teams who fire their Head Coach experience
small but statistically significant improvements in team performance, although
this positive impact is confined to circumstances in which a team holds onto
the new Coach having sacked the previous Coach. Our results lend support to
the proposition that teams can benefit from Head Coach turnover, firing them
when it is optimal to do so, and replacing a Head Coach during the offseason. |
| Keywords: |
managerial performance, team performance, football, entropy balancing |
| JEL: |
Z22 |
| Date: |
2021–02 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14104&r=all |