Top managers and overconfidence: Are there age-related differences?

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Abstract

The external environment in which organizations operate is becoming more and more dynamic, and as a result, strategic managers have to make decisions under uncertainty and complexity conditions, often based on intuition. Intuitive decision-making is fast and requires little effort, but relies on immediate and unconscious judgments. Cognitive biases affect organizational performance, sometimes with positive effects and others with negative ones. This study investigates the financial sector in Albania, and is based on the upper echelons perspective, trying to examine how age influences overconfidence bias for top managers. It attempts to identify factors and discover possible correlations between them, in order to elaborate some conclusions about managers’ demographic characteristics and organizational strategic choices and performance. By employing a quantitative approach, the results of this study provide important implications for both academic and practical levels, in an attempt to investigate the challenges of strategic decision-making. In this research have participated 254 top managers, including chief executive officers (CEOs), chief operating officers (COOs), and chief financial officers (CFOs). According to the findings, there is no significant relationship between the age of C-level executives and overconfidence. By analyzing the complex impact of age on decision-making, this study seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding within the fields of strategic management and organizational performance.

Keywords: Strategic Decision-Making, Top Managers, Overconfidence, Age, Organizational Performance

Authors’ individual contributions: Conceptualization — J.O. and S.D.; Methodology — J.O. and S.D.; Validation — J.O. and S.D.; Formal Analysis — J.O. and S.D.; Investigation — J.O. and S.D.; Resources — J.O. and S.D.; Writing — Original Draft — J.O. and S.D.; Writing — Review & Editing — J.O. and S.D.; Visualization — J.O.; Supervision — J.O.; Funding Acquisition — J.O. and S.D.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: D91, G41, L20, M10

Received: 31.03.2025
Revised: 14.07.2025; 30.07.2025
Accepted: 27.08.2025
Published online: 29.08.2025

How to cite this paper: Osmani, J., & Doda, S. (2025). Top managers and overconfidence: Are there age-related differences? Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition, 21(3), 24–34. https://doi.org/10.22495/cbv21i3art2