<![CDATA[Research aims: This study examines the relationship between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) age and corporate risk-taking (CRT) of non-financial companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from 2014 to 2023. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses a quantitative method and a post-facto design. The data collection sources included integrated annual reports and the Who Owns Whom and Osiris databases. The study measures CEO age (CEOAGE), the number of years from the CEO’s date of birth to the end of the accounting period, and its square (CEOAGE2). On the other hand, CRT measures include financial leverage ratios, namely, debt-to-equity (DE) and debt-to-asset (DA) ratios. A curvilinear fixed-effects model (FEM) and two-stage least squares (2SLS) were used to test the hypothesis. Research findings: The curvilinear FEM regression results reveal that CEOAGE has a significant positive impact on DE and DA, and CEOAGE2 has a significant negative impact on DE and DA, highlighting an inverted U-shaped relationship. Graphically, the results indicate that DE and DA attain their maximum values at approximately 50 years of CEOAGE. Beyond this point, an increase in CEOAGE results in a decrease in DE and DE. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study contributes to corporate governance research by examining the relationship between CEO age and CRT, measured by financial leverage ratios, using curvilinear models, and applying the upper echelons theory. Practitioner/Policy implication: The boards should not treat CEO age as a simple “older means more conservative” rule. Instead, the inverted U-shape suggests that leverage appetite changes across the CEO’s life cycle. Therefore, companies may face the highest debt-related risk when CEOs are at the middle stage of their careers. Accordingly, age should be considered in succession planning, risk monitoring, and capital structure oversight, but it should not be used in isolation as a decision rule. Research limitation/Implication: This study is limited to non-financial companies listed on the JSE from 2014 to 2023. Future research is recommended to extend the analysis to financial companies. Also, future research should use a longer observation period in order to obtain more robust and comprehensive findings. Finally, the current study applied curvilinear quadratic regression models. However, future study should attempt to use cubic regression models rarely used in corporate governance research.]]>
