We analyze changes in the composition of top management teams when a key member of the team (the CEO) departs. We find that the probability of non-CEO top manager turnover increases markedly around times of CEO turnover.
Further, this increase in non-CEO turnover around times of CEO turnover depends
on relations between the tenure of the manager and the tenures of the departing
and incoming CEOs. Departure of a long-tenured CEO increases the marginal effect
of manager tenure on the CEO/manager turnover association. Succession of a
long-tenured CEO decreases the marginal effect of manager tenure on the
CEO/manager turnover association. We argue that these findings are at least partially the result of complementarities across these groups of co-workers that affect the value of employment relationships between senior executives and firms.