Corporate & Business Strategy Review / Volume 4, Issue 2, Special Issue, 2023 351 THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CEO’S SKILLS AND SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY EXECUTION Ahmad Nasser Abuzaid * * Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Mutah University, Al-Karak, Jordan Contact details: Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Mutah University, 61710 Al-Karak, Jordan Abstract cite this paper: How to Abuzaid, A. N. (2023). employee mediating role of The between relationship the alignment in successful strategy CEO’s skills and execution issue]. [Special Corporate & Business Strategy Review, 4(2), 351–361. https://doi.org/10.22495/cbsrv4i2siart15 Copyright © 2023 The Author This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/ ISSN Online: 2708-4965 ISSN Print: 2708-9924 Received: 05.01.2023 Accepted: 16.06.2023 JEL Classification: M1, M10, M12 DOI: 10.22495/cbsrv4i2siart15 Regardless of the amount of research and focus on the success of the strategy execution, there does still appear to be a gap in the existing body of literature, which may lead to potential deficits in understanding the role of other factors such as chief executive officers‘ (CEOs‘) skills, and the alignment of the employee in the successful execution of the strategy. Therefore, the current study investigates the relationship between CEOs‘ skills and successful strategy execution and the mediating effect of employee alignment on this relationship. The current study utilized quantitative and descriptive research methods with a survey research design. One hundred and thirty- nine CEOs of the service companies operating in Jordan completed the web-based survey questionnaire. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method was employed to test the study hypotheses. The findings revealed that CEOs‘ skills and employee alignment have a significant and positive impact on successful strategy execution. In addition, the results indicated that employee alignment has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between CEOs‘ skills and successful strategy execution. To execute the strategy successfully, CEOs in the hypercompetitive environment need to apply both the technical skills of the job and the diverse soft skills and ensure that employees understand the link between their job responsibilities and the strategy execution through an effective communicating process. Keywords: CEO‘s Skills, Successful Strategy Execution, Employee Alignment, Service Companies, Jordan, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Authors’ individual contribution: The Author is responsible for all the contributions to the paper according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standards. Declaration of conflicting interests: The Author declares that there is no conflict of interest. 1. INTRODUCTION Increasing aggressive competition and continuously changing conditions are causing today‘s chief executive officers in all companies to take strategic management seriously to maintain their organizations‘ competitiveness in an increasingly volatile, uncertain environment and complex, ambiguous, active the Therefore, 2012). Hunger, & (Wheelen chief executive officers (CEOs), with the support of the rest of the top management team, must successfully carry out the strategic planning process; to achieve a fit between the company and its environment and sustain its competitiveness