That's the contentious result emerging from a decidedly uncontentious location after Canadian researchers checked out the characteristics of CEOs implicated in 350 merger-and-acquisition bids made by public American companies between 1997 and 2007.
"Young male CEOs appear to be combative: They are 4 percent more likely to be acquisitive and, having initiated an acquisition, they are over 20 percent more likely to withdraw an offer," the team wrote in this month's Management Science.
In a release, one of the researchers added that these testosterone-juiced CEOs "tend to reject offers even when this is against their interest."
That spontaneous withdrawal of an offer reflected an "all or nothing" stance among young CEOs, meaning they allowed the withdrawal to happen even if the deal would inevitably collapse as a result.
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Given testosterone's roles in the body, it's hardly surprising that the hormone would have profound impact on high-stress business decisions. Higher levels of testosterone are associated with an elevated fight-or-flight response, aggression, competitiveness and, yes, risk-taking in financial decisions. Testosterone levels start to decline around the age of 45, which was where the team drew a distinction between "younger" and "older" executives. The team also controlled for other explanations, like the possibility that younger CEOs were simply greener, making them more susceptible to rash decision-making.
So how 'bout the ladies at the top? Researchers aren't sure: They didn't find enough women in the top echelons to allow for a robust set of data.
