高层管理团队内部社会资本、团队冲突和决策效果的关系——研究综述与理论分析框架

反映在结构因素、关系因素和认知因素三个维度上的高管团队内部社会资本为决策信息的交换和共享提供了机会、意愿和能力,有利于团队内部形成建设性的冲突模式,促进决策效果的提高.本文以团队冲突为中介变量,建立了高管团队内部社会资本与决策效果的关系的理论框架,提出了研究命题,并对企业高管团队内部社会资本的培育提出建议.

TMT Internal Social Capital, Conflict and Decision Effects: A Literature Review and Theoretic Framework

The upper echelons literature seeks to explain the relationship between top management team conflicts and strategic decision making from demographic perspective, which has been criticized for being inattentive to social dimensions of top management activities. In light of the characteristics of institutional voids and irrational decision making system in transactional economy, the top managers in China have to consider the social issues such as network, social norms and trust when they make strategic decisions. This paper posits that social capital is one of the vital factors that determine its effectiveness. TMT social capital is an integrated concept combines social resources embedded in both of the internal and external networks at senior management level. From a bonding perspective, the internal social capital of TMT is a force that binds and lubricates, facilitating effective use of information and other resources by encouraging cognitive conflict or diminishing affective conflict, thus promoting collective action and cooperation in the process of strategic decision making. Therefore, TMT social capital can yield novel insights in research of decision making of TMT. This paper reviews the literature regarding social capital and TMT conflict, and creates a theoretic framework which links TMT internal social capital, conflict and decision outcomes. First, it defines TMT internal social capital and develops three dimensions of the construct (e.g. structural dimension, relational dimension and cognitive dimension), in combination with institutional and cultural factors of Chinese firms. Second, it discusses how the internal social capital provides opportunity, motivation and ability for information exchange and sharing through structural embedment, relational embedment and cognitive embedment, thereby promoting decision effects. Third, it explores the mechanism that links internal social capital and decision outcomes and discuss the intermediary function of cognitive and affective conflict in the decision making process. On the basis of literature and analyses, this paper develops several propositions for further empirical study as follows: 1.TMT internal social capital is positively related to decision outcomes; 2. TMT internal social capital is positively related to cognitive conflict, whereas negatively related to affective conflict; 3. Cognitive conflict is positively related to decision outcomes, whereas affective conflict is negatively related to decision outcomes; 4. TMT conflict mediates the relationship between TMT internal social capital and decision outcomes. Finally, this paper also draws practical implications for Chinese firms on the development and cultivation of internal social capital of top management team.