Coaches on Fire or Firing the Coach? Evidence of the Impact of Coach Changes on Team Performance from Italian Serie A

Date
04.09.2019

Authors

Alessandro Argentieri (Agricultural University of Ecuador); Luciano Canova (Eni Corporate University, Scuola Eni Enrico Mattei); Matteo Manera (University of Milano-Bicocca, Center of European Studies, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei)

JEL Code
C23, C36, M51, Z22

Keywords:
Italian Football Data, Coach Changes, Team Performance, Models for Panel Data, Instrumental Variables

Publisher
Economic Theory and Applications

Editor
Matteo Manera

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In this paper, football data from the 2007/2008 to 2016/2017 seasons of the Italian Serie A were used to identify the effects of replacing a coach mid-season due to poor team performance. We used an instrumental variable approach to correlate coach turnover within a season with player productivity and found a very low positive impact of the coach change in the short term but a significant negative impact in the long term. Our findings are also relevant to the literature on management replacement in small-size firms.

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Suggested citation: Argentieri, A., L. Canova, M. Manera, (2019), ‘Coaches on Fire or Firing the Coach? Evidence of the Impact of Coach Changes on Team Performance from Italian Serie A’, Nota di Lavoro 23.2019, Milano, Italy: Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.