Upper echelons scholars have shown that the political ideology of CEOs influences strategic decisions as well as subsequent firm performance. A recent increase in research interest in this area has led to a widely fragmented literature, with a multitude of outcomes and related moderators and mediators of CEO political ideology being investigated. This paper therefore asks: How does CEO political ideology actually influence the respective firm? We conduct a systematic literature review of 38 papers published in leading academic journals between 2013 and 2023 that is guided by three specific research questions: (a) How is CEO political ideology operationalized and measured? (b) What outcomes, moderators, and mediators of CEO political ideology have been investigated? (c) What theories have been used to explain the relationships that are found? Based on the corresponding findings, we develop a conceptual framework of the different mechanisms through which CEO political ideology influences firm-level outcomes and present a comprehensive future research agenda. Overall, our study provides deep insights into the nature of CEO political ideology as well as its implications in the organizational context.
