Choosing the next CEO - it's in the face

IN the US, Volkswagen has agreed to pay almost US$15 billion for cheating on its emissions tests; but beyond the hefty fines, firms which are embroiled in such trust-violation situations - big names such as Enron and Worldcom; and closer home, institutions such as National Kidney Foundation, City Harvest Church and 1MDB - have the urgent task of proactively restoring their damaged reputation.

One important tactic in repairing trust is to replace the chief executive officer (CEO), as he is the look-to person for reshaping organisation values. But how can something as abstract as a person's integrity be assessed? And how do you measure if the CEO replacement has been successful in building lost trust?

As a substantial amount of research has demonstrated the importance of appearance, we studied the effect of facial stereotyping of successor CEOs of companies that were restating after corporate fraud versus those that were not.