Reports suggest some concerns with chief marketing officer (CMO) performance. We introduce CMO Role Design and theorize it is a critical factor impacting CMO performance outcomes. Employing a role theory lens, we develop a conceptual framework of CMO Role Design and provide an initial empirical examination of three characteristics from the broader model. We theorize that effective CMO Role Design requires alignment between specific characteristics to enable better performance outcomes. Surprisingly, we find that more than half (54%) of CMO roles are misaligned, indicating how challenging it is for firm leaders to design effective CMO roles. As the first conceptual model of CMO Role Design, this paper establishes a platform for future research, identifying over 25 new research questions. For CEOs, executive recruiters, and CMOs, this research offers insight into the importance of CMO Role Design and provides a template to consider when designing and staffing CMO roles.

报告表明，人们对首席营销官 （CMO） 的绩效存在一些担忧。我们介绍了 CMO 角色设计，并从理论上认为它是影响 CMO 绩效结果的关键因素。采用角色论视角，我们开发了 CMO 角色设计的概念框架，并从更广泛的模型中提供了对三个特征的初步实证检查。我们从理论上讲，有效的 CMO 角色设计需要特定特征之间的一致性，以实现更好的绩效结果。令人惊讶的是，我们发现超过一半 （54%） 的 CMO 角色不一致，这表明公司领导者设计有效的 CMO 角色是多么具有挑战性。作为 CMO 角色设计的第一个概念模型，本文为未来研究建立了一个平台，确定了超过 25 个新的研究问题。对于 CEO、高管招聘人员和 CMO，这项研究提供了对 CMO 角色设计重要性的见解，并提供了在设计和配备 CMO 角色时要考虑的模板。