Unpacking the inverted U-shaped relationship between CEO polychronicity and business model implementation: The moderating role of the CEO-TMT interface

• We confirm an inverted U-shaped impact of CEO polychronicity on business model implementation (BMI). • This inverted U-shaped relationship persists under conditions of low CEO-TMT communication richness. • It transitions to a linear and positive relationship under conditions of high CEO-TMT communication richness. This study merges information processing theory and attention-based view to explore the possible nonlinear relationship between CEO polychronicity and business model implementation (BMI). We posit that CEO polychronicity exerts an inverted U-shaped influence on BMI. Moreover, we examine the moderating effect of CEO-TMT communication richness on this relationship. Using two waves of matched survey data collected from 844 top managers in 211 firms, we confirm an inverted U-shaped impact of CEO polychronicity on BMI. This relationship persists under conditions of low CEO-TMT communication richness, yet transitions to a linear and positive relationship under conditions of high CEO-TMT communication richness. Our findings contribute to the growing body of temporal research in strategic management by pioneering an investigation into how a critical CEO temporal attribute—polychronicity—affects BMI, and by delineating the boundary conditions of this relationship from the perspective of the CEO-TMT interface.