Assessing the Effect of Chief Executive Officer's Personality on Employee Performance in Small and Medium-Size Enterprises

Abstract: This research, titled “Assessing the Impact of Chief Executive Officer's Personality on Employee Performance in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs),” investigates the relationship between CEO personality traits and employee performance in SMEs. The study arose from the recognition that many SMEs struggle to achieve their performance goals, often due to factors such as ineffective leadership. A quantitative research approach was employed, involving a purposive sample of 380 employees from selected SMEs in Yaoundé. The data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale, designed to assess CEO personality traits (observable features, psychological characteristics, social attributes,and professionalism) and their effects on employee performance. The collected data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the underlying relationships between the variables and multiple regression analysis to test the significance of these relationships. The findings confirmed a significant positive relationship between CEO personality traits and employee performance, supporting the hypotheses that observable features (e.g., age, gender), psychological characteristics (e.g., agreeableness, emotional stability), social attributes (e.g., being a good listener, approachable), and professionalism (e.g., education, punctuality) of CEOs all positively impact employee performance. Specifically, the regression analysis revealed that each CEO personality trait had a significant influence on employee performance, with p-values for all hypotheses being less than 0.05 (H1: 0.0430, H2: 0.000, H3: 0.005, H4: 0.0458), indicating strong support for the research hypotheses. Based on these results, the study recommends that CEOs and organizational leaders develop and enhance traits such as emotional stability, intellectual capacity, and strong interpersonal skills, as these can positively influence employee motivation and organizational success. Keywords: Chief Executive Officer, Employee Performance, SMEs, Leadership, Organizational Success