The Influence of Chief Executive Officers’ Traits on Financial Risk Management Perceptions: Evidence from Malaysia

The main aimed of this study is to examine the Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs’) traits in relation to the perceptions of financial risk management during three time periods, namely, before the financial crisis 1997, during the crisis and after the crisis. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to CEOs of public listed companies under the Malaysian Bourse. A total of 54 CEOs responded to the survey. The main findings of the study are as follows: a) Before and after the crisis, CEOs gave the highest priority to business risk as compared to financial risk; b) During the crisis, CEOs gave a higher priority to financial risk; c) Younger CEOs attributed the highest priority to financial risk; d) More experienced CEOs attributed the highest priority to foreign exchange and interest rate risk and e) Malay CEOs gave a higher priority to financial risk than Chinese CEOs.