Although the role structure of top management teams (TMT) is a relevant topic in strategic leadership research, the hierarchical structure of TMTs still needs to be explored. In this study, we conduct an exploratory analysis to understand better how TMTs are hierarchically structured and what drives different hierarchical configurations across TMTs. Our empirical analysis of 260 Standard & Poor firms between 2007 and 2018 offers unique insights. Primarily, we discover that even though TMT sizes remained constant between the years of observation, they became less hierarchical in structure, meaning that TMTs became relatively flatter. Moreover, we find that several factors related to CEO characteristics, strategic leadership, corporate governance, and firm and environmental conditions drove the changes in the hierarchical structure of TMTs. These combined empirical insights call for nuanced theoretical explanations of TMT hierarchical structures. We contribute to the TMT literature mainly by highlighting the development of different TMT hierarchical structures and providing new insights into their determinants.

中文翻译：

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高层管理团队的层次结构：多级决定因素的探索


尽管高层管理团队 （TMT） 的角色结构是战略领导力研究中的一个相关主题，但 TMT 的层次结构仍有待探索。在这项研究中，我们进行了探索性分析，以更好地了解 TMT 的层次结构以及是什么推动了 TMT 的不同层次结构。我们对2007年至2018年间的260家标准和穷公司进行了实证分析，提供了独特的见解。首先，我们发现，尽管 TMT 的大小在多年的观察之间保持不变，但它们在结构上的层次性变得不那么重要，这意味着 TMT 变得相对扁平。此外，我们发现与 CEO 特征、战略领导力、公司治理以及公司和环境条件相关的几个因素推动了 TMT 层次结构的变化。这些综合的实证见解需要对 TMT 层次结构进行细致入微的理论解释。我们主要通过强调不同 TMT 层次结构的发展并为它们的决定因素提供新的见解来为 TMT 文献做出贡献。