Bizarre HR: What can your CEO’s signature tell you?

Bosses with large, bold signatures are more likely to be narcissistic and get the highest pay – but they’re also more likely to run their company into the ground, a study has found.

A study of 605 CEOs from top US companies found size does matter when it comes to signing off, as larger signatures indicate an egotistical character trait, making them poor decision makers.

However, these qualities also make these bosses capable of convincing shareholders and directors of their competency, helping them to pull in a bigger pay check, ABC News reported.

Professor Sean Wang, one of three authors of the study at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, said the 605 signatures analysed were mostly from annual reports and other documents filed from S&P 500 companies as at July 2011.

The signatures were put into a custom coded programme, which drew a rectangle around each one to measure the area they covered. Using the size as a proxy for their narcissism, they found narcissistic CEOs invest more in capital expenditures but pay lower dividends.

“In addition, narcissistic CEOs exhibit worse performance as measured by the contemporaneous return on assets, with the effects being largest when operating environments are most uncertain,” Wang told ABC News.

“Despite the negative relationship between narcissism and firm performance, these CEOs receive both higher cash and stock compensation, as well as higher compensation relative to the next highest paid executive at their firm.”

However, other experts said the study assumes a bigger signature equals a large ego, when in fact it may not be the case.

James Westerman and Jacqueline Bergman of Appalachian State University told ABC that high self-esteem and an extroverted personality could also influence a larger signature – and the company might benefit from their positive self-assurance.