Abstract

Corporate reputation is widely recognized as a critical intangible resource, yet the role of media
portrayals of chief executive officers (CEOs) in shaping reputational outcomes remains
underexplored. Building on the upper echelons theory, this study investigates how positive and
negative CEO media attention influence firm reputation and whether board independence
moderates these relationships. Using a longitudinal panel of S&P 100 firms from 2013 to 2020, I
estimate fixed effects regressions with lagged predictors to strengthen causal ordering. Results
demonstrate that increases in favorable CEO media coverage are associated with higher
subsequent reputational scores, whereas unfavorable coverage undermines them. Moreover, board
independence significantly attenuates the reputational benefits of positive CEO coverage but does
not mitigate the reputational costs of negative coverage. Extending the analysis to firm outcomes,
I find that reputation itself positively predicts operating performance. These findings highlight the
reputational and financial consequences of CEO visibility, showing that media sentiment,
governance oversight, and reputation jointly shape firm performance. The study contributes to
research on corporate reputation by identifying CEO media coverage as a salient antecedent,
extends the literature on corporate governance by clarifying the moderating role of independent
boards, and affirms reputation’s status as an economically consequential intangible resource.