In this paper, we examine the social class of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in different industries. Our study draws on unique data on 1,514 German CEOs and their respective firms. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), we identify four different CEO social-class categories and analyze their industry affiliation. We show that CEOs of a particular social class are more likely to lead firms in specific industries. Our study contributes to the literature through its nuanced insights into the class-related traits of top executives and opens up new avenues for research on the process of social selection through which corporate elites are defined.
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