Abstract: The milestones a CEO has reached along his or her career path contribute to the formation of his or her cognitive framework, social resources, and managerial vision, which in turn affects the implementation of corporate innovation. However, the typical career patterns of CEOs in Chinese enterprises and their specific impacts on corporate innovation remain unclear. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2023, this study manually collects CEO career data and identifies typical CEO career patterns from the dimensions of employer, status, and function based on sequence analysis. The research indicates that CEO career patterns exert differentiated impacts on corporate innovation. From the employer background perspective, compared to CEOs with most experience in private sector, CEOs with most experience in a single traditional sector simultaneously promote both breakthrough and incremental innovation, whereas CEOs with diverse cross-sector experience tend to inhibit incremental innovation. From the status evolution perspective, compared to stepwise promoted CEOs, founding CEOs exert a significant positive effect on both types of innovation. From the functional expertise perspective, compared to management-oriented CEOs, technical expert CEOs demonstrate clear advantages in driving both breakthrough and incremental innovation, while diversely functional CEOs are more likely to foster breakthrough innovation. Notably, the tenure of production expert CEOs is significantly associated with declines in both breakthrough and incremental innovation. The findings of this study extend the literature on the determinants of corporate innovation and the economic consequences of CEO careers. It provides new empirical evidence for improving the development and selection mechanisms for CEOs of listed companies and for further enhancing corporate innovation levels.

Key words: CEO career pattern, corporate innovation, incremental innovation, radical innovation, sequence analysis