Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. If you have questions about access or logging in, please use the form on the Contact Page.
The primary purpose of this dissertation is to provide an empirical test of the proposed theoretical link between the construct of celebrity, in an organizational context, and firm performance. The model proposed in this dissertation tests this link at both the individual- and firm-levels. As an exploratory study, this research showed evidence of initial, direct linkages between the socially constructed resource of celebrity and firm performance. The results also found firm celebrity to mediate the relationship between CEO celebrity and firm performance. A secondary purpose of this dissertation was to advance work on celebrity, in the organizational sciences, by providing a means for preliminary measurement of the construct in this context. In this dissertation, celebrity at the CEO and firm levels were measured using both archival and survey methodology. The findings of this dissertation suggest that celebrity CEOs may aid in building firm celebrity, but that the firm, as a celebrity, carries the focal weight in the minds of media audiences. In turn, the focal weight on firm celebrity carries a greater impact on firm performance. Moreover, the findings provide support for future work to examine the "black box" between this specific strategic resource and firm performance. Lastly, this dissertation concludes with a discussion of the paper's limitations, contributions, and practical implications.
A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Management in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
Advisory Committee
Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Annette L. Ranft, Committee Member; Susan Fiorito, Outside Committee Member; James G. Combs, Committee Member; Bruce T. Lamont, Committee Member.
Publisher
Florida State University
Identifier
FSU_migr_etd-2007
Use and Reproduction
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them.