ABSTRACTInnovation is critical for firms' survival and development. Joining prior research exploring how certain CEOs' personalities influence firm innovation, this study pays attention to the role of CEO self‐oriented perfectionism. Building on the upper echelons theory and the attention‐based view, we argue that CEO self‐oriented perfectionism promotes firm innovation, with information search persistence serving as a positive mediating mechanism. Moreover, the positive relationship between CEO information search persistence and firm innovation will be weakened when environmental uncertainty is high. Using a two‐wave survey dataset of 152 CEOs in China, we verify the theoretical model empirically. This study enriches the antecedents of firm innovation from the executive level, contributes to a deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind the association between CEO personalities and firm innovation, and offers new insights into the studies on perfectionism.