The role of vertical conflict in the relationship between leader self-enhancement and leader performance

Although studies have shown that inflated self-perceptions of transformational leadership behavior negatively affect leader performance, insight into the underlying processes explaining this relationship is lacking. The current study addresses this gap by identifying vertical conflict between leaders and subordinates as one such underlying process. Using a sample of 52 leaders supervising 259 subordinates, it was found that leader self-enhancement of transformational leadership behavior is significantly and positively related to vertical conflict about both task and relationship issues. Results further indicate that vertical task conflict rather than vertical relationship conflict mediates the negative relationship between leader self-enhancement and leader performance.     

The science of leader power

We provide a brief overview of why and how power is important to leaders. The scholarly fields of power and leadership both have rich histories yet have largely developed independently of one another, even though they both heavily inform one another. Our intention is to bring these two topics closer and create more synergies for power and leadership scholars. In this introductory editorial, we briefly review current literature that has examined both of these subjects in tandem. We then look at the field of power more broadly and explain how it has evolved recently in order to provide insights on what still needs to be done to ensure rigorous study of leader power. Next, we summarize the papers we accepted for the special issue and explain how they address current scholarly needs on the science of leader power. Finally, we conclude with an encouraging note for more research dedicated to bridging the fields of leadership and power.     

An empirical study of the relationship between a self-service technology investment and firm financial performance

More and more enterprises are taking advantage of self-service technologies (SSTs) in their customer-related operating activities, especially service firms. Although research on SSTs is prevalent, few studies have examined the impact of SSTs on firm financial performance. Given the growing importance of SSTs in the service industries in general and in the banking industry in particular, we therefore empirically examined the impacts of ATMs, one of the most widely accepted SSTs, on bank financial performance. Contrary to the existing literature, our results show ATMs have a positive relationship with profitability. However, we find no association between ATMs and growth performance.     

Supply chain relationship quality and its impact on firm performance

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of supply chain relationship quality (SCRQ) on firm performance (FP) through the mediators of supply chain management processes (SCMP) and supply chain performance (SCP). In the literature, these linkages have been examined separately; in contrast, this study takes a holistic perspective on the antecedents of FP. The model was tested using survey data from manufacturing companies. Variance-based structural equation modelling revealed that both SCMP and SCP lead to FP, unlike SCRQ. On the other hand, SCRQ affects SCMP. Drawing on the resource-based view, consistency in SCRQ can lead to not only efficient and effective supply chain management but also improvements in FP and SCP. This research has practical implications, providing supply chain decision makers with insights on enhancing FP. Supply chain decision makers will be able to benefit from the findings of our study by improving supply chain relationships with supply chain members and ensuring FP. This research also highlights how effective management of SCRQ, SCMP and SCP can provide better FP and a competitive advantage.     

Exploring the relationship of leadership skills and knowledge to leader performance

The criterion-related validity of constructed response measures of complex problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and leader knowledge is examined with respect to two criteria of leader effectiveness: leader achievement and quality of solutions to ill-defined leadership problems. Core aspects of the leader capabilities model are tested using these measures in a series of hierarchical regression analyses. Results indicate that constructed response measures of key leader capabilities account for variance in leader effectiveness and provide initial validation evidence for a central part of the theoretical model. The problem-solving, social judgment and knowledge measures account for significant variance in leadership criteria beyond that accounted for by cognitive abilities, motivations, and personality. Initial evidence also suggests that complex problem-solving skills, social judgment and leader knowledge partially mediate the relationship of cognitive abilities, motivation and personality to leader effectiveness. Implications and generalizability of the results are discussed in light of a related civilian leadership study conducted within the U.S. Department of Defense.     

CEO burnout,managerial discretion,and firm performance: The role of CEO locus of control,structural power,and organizational factors

Despite the possibility of burnout resulting from dynamics in firms' upper echelons, little if any work has focused on chief executive officer's (CEO's) burnout and firm performance. Drawing on managerial discretion theory, this article analyzes the influence of CEO burnout on firm performance and the moderating roles of the individual (CEO locus of control), structural power (CEO duality and CEO tenure), and organizational characteristics (size, age, and resource availability) related to managerial discretion. Using a sample of 156 CEOs in Swedish firms, we find a negative association between CEOs who report higher burnout and firm performance. Our results confirm that CEO duality and resource availability ameliorate and firm size exacerbates the negative association between CEO burnout and firm performance. Contrary to our expectations, CEO locus of control, CEO tenure, and firm age do not influence this relationship. We discuss the implications of our research for upper echelons theory and strategic leadership theory.     

网络能力、资源获取与新企业绩效关系实证研究

网络能力是在网络导向驱动下,利用关系技巧和合作技巧进行一系列网络构建和网络管理活动,以实现资源获取目标的能力.在中国转型经济时期,网络能力对于新企业克服资源约束,实现生存和成长具有重要作用.拓展了网络能力的理论内涵,将网络能力划分为网络导向、网络构建和网络管理三个维度,建立了网络能力、资源获取与新创企业绩效关系模型,以322家新企业为样本进行实证分析.研究结果表明,网络导向对网络构建和网络管理具有显著正影响,网络构建和网络管理对知识资源获取和运营资源获取具有正影响,知识资源与新企业绩效显著正相关,知识资源获取对运营资源获取具有正影响.研究结论还表明运营资源对新企业绩效无显著影响,但知识资源可以加强两者之间关系,说明新企业只有具备很强的资源管理能力才能将运营资源转化为企业绩效.     

The entanglement of leader character and leader competence and its impact on performance

Whereas the micro- and macro-oriented leadership literatures have often studied leader competencies necessary for effective performance, the role of leader character in relation to competencies and performance has been to a large extent neglected. Our work seeks to shift the scholarly dialogue by introducing the concept of character-competence entanglement, which reflects the binding between character and competence over time. The highest degree of entanglement represents the deep and more persistent interconnection and mutually-reinforcing effect between highly-developed leader character and highly-developed leader competence, whereas in cases of low entanglement, character can be activated temporarily in a particular context to help strengthen the relationship between competence and performance. Our core proposition is that high character-competence entanglement will lead to extraordinary performance over time. In addition, we emphasize that relying on naturally-occurring learning opportunities and the processes of “learning-by-living” both outside and inside the organization will positively impact the development of character-competence entanglement.     

The inverted-U relationship between stress and performance: A field study

To investigate the shape of the relationship between stress resulting from excessive demand and performance, 306 officer cadets in the Israel Defence Forces completed stress questionnaires during their training. Stress was consistently negatively related to various measures of performance. The prediction derived from the inverted-U hypothesis, that those whose ability exceeded demand and those who felt that demands taxed their ability would perform worse than those whose ability matched their demands, was not supported. Until all the requisite conditions for testing the inverted-U hypothesis are met, the authors propose relegating it to the laboratory.     

CEO proactiveness,innovation, and firm performance

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are essential in driving firm innovation. However, despite existing research on CEO personality characteristics and firm innovation and performance, we know relatively little about how personality characteristics reflecting anticipatory action and strong outcome-oriented components, such as proactiveness, shape firm innovation and performance. We explore the relationship between CEO proactiveness and three facets of organizational innovation, as well as its impact on firm performance. We suggest that CEO proactiveness is manifested in different network-building, problem-solving, and feedback-seeking behaviors with different implications for exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and organizational ambidexterity, and that its effect on firm performance is partially mediated by organizational ambidexterity. By examining the influence of this important CEO personality characteristic on key firm strategic choices and performance, we extend research on strategic leadership and firm innovation and performance.     

Nonlinearity between CEO power and firm leverage: evidence from the threshold model

This paper examines the non-linearity between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) power and firm leverage using a sample of 295 selected small and medium-sized enterprises listed on China Shenzhen Stock Exchange SMEs Board during the period 2009–2013. Specifically, a threshold estimation technique developed by Hansen (J Econ 93(2):345–368, 1999) is applied to investigate whether firms with powerful CEO use a sub-optimal leverage. The results confirm that there is a double-threshold effect exist and suggest an inverted U-shaped relationship between CEO power and firm book value-based leverage. Thus, these findings reveal that the distribution of decision-making power within firms can affect financing decision are made and CEOs with higher ability to exercise decision-making power tend to use lower leverage to pursue their own benefits.     

The relationship between supply chain manager capabilities and performance: empirical evidence

This study seeks to answer the question how supply chain managers’ capabilities impact individual and firm performance. Organisations have begun to recognise the importance of their supply chain and the necessity for qualified supply chain managers. Therefore, there is a need for further research on the impact of these capabilities on individual and firm performance. Sustained performance of a firm depends on dynamic capabilities and it allows firms to align and adapt strategies according to the volatile external environment. Using dynamic capabilities theory, the supply chain manager capabilities model was developed as a way for supply chain managers to effectively use their skills and past experiences to improve their own and firm’s performance. Primary data was collected through a survey distributed to supply chain management professionals. The results strongly support the relationship between technology and soft skills with supply chain manager capabilities. Interestingly, our study identifies sequential relationship amongst the three constructs such as capabilities, individual and firm performance. Capabilities are related with individual performance whereas individual performance is related with the firm performance. However, our findings revealed that there is no direct relationship between supply chain manager capabilities and firm performance.     

The relation between board size and firm performance in firms with a history of poor operating performance

Focusing on a sample of smaller firms with a history of poor operating performance, this paper posits that increases in board size will be associated with better share price performance. Notably, board sizes studied here are, on average, much smaller than those typically studied by prior research. Mostly consistent with predictions, board size is found to be positively correlated with firm value in between-firms tests, and changes in board size are found to be positively associated with annual stock returns. Last, event study results suggest that the market responds favorably to board size increases and unfavorably to large board size decreases. Together, these results identify a setting in which larger board sizes appear to be positively related to shareholder value.     

Perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness: The effects of vision content,delivery, and organizational performance

This study examined the effects of vision content, delivery and organizational performance on perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness. Subjects included 304 undergraduates who were presented videotaped speeches by a bogus CEO of a software company. A 2 × 2 × 2 design was employed in which message content (visionary/non-visionary), delivery (strong/weak), and organizational performance (high/low) were manipulated. A modified, 7-item version of Meindl and Ehrlich's (1988) Romance of Leadership Scale (RLS-D) served as a covariate. A MANCOVA analysis indicated significant effects of delivery, content, and organizational performance on both perceived leader charisma and effectiveness. The RLS-D was unrelated to either dependent variable as a covariate. The results suggest that strength of delivery is an especially important determinant of perceptions' of leader charisma and effectiveness. Although speech content and organizational performance cues likewise accounted for variance in these perceptions, their effects were at times offset by those of delivery.     

Dual-class shares,external financing needs,and firm performance

Whereas the agency theory predicts that dual-class shares decrease firm performance, the stewardship theory predicts that dual-class shares increase firm performance. The cumulative findings on the performance consequences of dual-class shares have been weak and/or inconclusive. Because endogeneity is a constant challenge in empirical corporate governance studies, this study uses a unique law change in Switzerland as a source of exogenous variation in the fraction of firms with dual-class shares. Controlling for firm fixed effects and time-varying confounders, we find that dual-class shares neither harm nor benefit firm performance on average. However, dual-class shares increase firm performance if the firm requires external finance and dual-class shares decrease firm performance if the firm does not require external finance. External financing needs mitigate the agency costs between controlling and minority shareholders and create a context in which dual-class shares facilitate firm-specific investments instead of private perquisites. The study’s results have both managerial and policy implications.     

Dynamic capabilities and firm performance

This paper juxtaposes conflicting claims about the relationship between codified dynamic capabilities and firm performance at different levels of environmental dynamism. Furthermore, it argues that the contradictory propositions and findings in prior research are due to said relationship being contingent on key, yet thus far overlooked and unaccounted for, factors internal to the firm such as dynamism exposure and asset base complexity. Empirical tests in the context of the mutual funds industry provide evidence that the performance contribution of codified dynamic capabilities does decline as environmental dynamism increases, yet for any given level of environmental dynamism the magnitude and even the sign of the performance contribution of codified dynamic capabilities are significantly influenced by firms’ dynamism exposure and asset base complexity. Going beyond received wisdom, this study advances a more nuanced contingency approach to dynamic capabilities which contributes to a better understanding of how the value of dynamic capabilities is shaped by a complex interplay of environmental and internal factors.