Organizational culture as a mediator of CEO values and organizational performance

In this paper we examine the role organizational cultures have at mediating the relationship between CEO values and organizational performance. Whereas several theoretical works have suggested that leader values create organizational culture, and others have argued that culture is a means towards organizational performance, few empirical works have demonstrated the entire process through which values lead to performance. In the present study we gathered data from 26 companies, based on different types of measures and from different organizational sources. Our findings demonstrate that entrepreneurial cultures mediate the relationship between CEO self-directive values and company sales growth; that bureaucratic cultures mediate the relationship between CEO values of security and turnover; and that supportive cultures mediate the relationship between CEO benevolence and turnover.