The impact of organisational politics and trust in the top management team on strategic decision implementation success: A middle-manager's perspective

The implementation of strategic decisions is a complex and demanding process that requires an open and lateral communication of free-flowing information to make sense of and champion a firm's intended changes. For the process to be effective, middle managers need to operate within an environment that nurtures a pro-social mindset and helps to cope with stressors caused by the possibility of harm done by the intended changes to their vested interests. Drawing from the job demands-resources model, we argue that organisational politics represent an organisational demand, which may hinder the implementation of strategic decisions. To cope with this demand, implementers recruit organisational resources (i.e. trust in the top management team) that may moderate the negative effects of dysfunctional politics. To test our hypotheses, we drew on a sample of 228 middle managers from 114 private Greek firms with more than 100 employees across various industries. We found that when organisational politics were high during the implementation process, implementation success diminished. However, their negative impact was reduced when trust in the top management team was high. Conversely, when organisational politics were low, middle managers reported a higher implementation success regardless of how highly the top management team was trusted. Our study is the first to test the influence of organisational politics on the success of the implementation process from a middle manager's perspective. In addition, we show that implementation success can be viewed through a demands-resources lens, which provides a meaningful contribution to research on strategy implementation.     

Friend or Foe? CEO gender,political ideology,and gender-pay disparities in executive compensation

Do female CEOs reduce gender-pay disparities in top management teams (TMTs)? Some scholars draw on social identity theory to argue that, as individuals tend to identify with and support their in-groups, appointing a female corporate leader (i.e., CEO) will mitigate the gender-pay gap among executives. Yet, others draw on the queen-bee syndrome to postulate that some female CEOs may rather strengthen gender-pay disparities in upper echelons – by favoring out-groups (male) more than their in-groups (female). We bring together these opposing theoretical arguments to develop a ‘beyond CEO gender’ perspective, arguing that the effects of CEO gender on TMT gender-pay disparities should be considered in conjunction with the corporate leaders' values – as reflected by their political ideology. Our research demonstrates that conservative-female CEOs compensate female (versus male) executives lower compared to all other CEO gender-ideology categories (i.e., female-liberal CEOs, male-liberal CEOs, and male-conservative CEOs). Overall, our work contributes to theory on the CEO-TMT interface by highlighting the role of the CEO as the ‘architect’ of executive remuneration.     

"I am stuck in meetings": Understanding the relation of CEO time management with TMT size and gender diversity

Time is a scarce resource, especially at the apex of firms. CEOs’ time management became a hot topic in recent academic and practice-oriented literature, which stressed the fact that CEOs are usually stuck in meetings. In this paper, I advance the nascent literature on the CEOs’ time management by focusing on the time the CEOs spend in meetings and on their choice of scheduling group meetings instead of bilateral meetings. Doing so, I study the relation of the CEOs’ time management with their top management team’s (TMT’s) size and gender diversity. Empirical analyses over a sample of 170 CEOs revealed a positive and significant relation between the size of the TMT and the time the CEOs spend in meetings with the top executives belonging to the TMT, while no significant relation emerged between the TMT’s gender diversity and the CEOs’ time in meetings. Conversely, while the TMT’s size does not significantly relate to the amount of time the CEOs spend in group meetings, a U-shaped relation emerged with the TMT’s gender diversity: the time spent in group meetings is higher when the TMT is homogeneous in gender, while CEOs prefer bilateral meetings when the TMT is heterogeneous.     

CEO humility,narcissism and firm innovation: A paradox perspective on CEO traits

We examine how two seemingly contradictory yet potentially complementary CEO traits—humility and narcissism—interact to affect firm innovation. We adopt a paradox perspective and propose that individuals can have paradoxical traits and that, in particular, humility and narcissism can coexist harmoniously, especially among the Chinese, whose philosophical tradition embraces paradoxical thinking and behaving. CEOs that are both humble and narcissistic are hypothesized to be more likely to have socialized charisma, to cultivate an innovative culture, and to deliver innovative performance. Two studies using multisource data involving 63 CEOs, 328 top managers, and 645 middle managers in Study 1 and 143 CEOs and 190 top managers in Study 2 support the hypotheses and point to new directions for studying CEO traits and their effects on firm outcomes.     

Patterns of knowledge flows and MNE innovative performance

This paper examines the influence of inter-and intra organisational knowledge flows on innovative performance in multinational enterprises. It employs a theoretical framework relating to organisational differentiation within multinational enterprises to generate a number of hypotheses linking knowledge flows to innovate performance. The hypotheses are tested in the biopharmaceutical context. Patent citations and co-patenting are utilised to capture knowledge flows. The findings support suggestion in the literature that subsidiary embededdness in external knowledge stimulates innovation in MNEs.     

The impact of information sharing in supply chains on organisational performance: an empirical study

Information sharing has been cited as one of the major means to enhance supply chain performance. It allows companies to better coordinate their activities with their supply chain partners that lead to increased performance. This study conceptualises and assesses several factors that influence the degree of information sharing in supply chains, namely integrated information technologies, internal integration, information quality and costs–benefits sharing. The relationship between the degree of information sharing and organisational performance is then tested. Data from 150 manufacturing companies were collected and proposed relationships are examined using structural equation modelling. The results show that integrated information technologies and information quality have positive influence on the intensity of information sharing. However, internal integration and costs–benefits sharing do not relate to the intensity of information sharing. This study finds that information sharing does not directly relate to organisational performance. Its relationship is mediated by collaboration practices with supply chain partners. This suggests that information sharing is essential but insufficient by itself to bring significant performance improvements.     

Benefiting from CEO's empowerment of TMTs: Does CEO–TMT dissimilarity matter?

This study examines empowering leadership from an upper echelons perspective by focusing on top management teams (TMTs) and considering the demographic dissimilarities between the CEO and other TMT members. Data from a multisource survey of 129 Chinese firms demonstrate the importance of the fit between the backgrounds of the leader and the TMT members. Although empowerment of TMTs by CEOs predicts superior organizational performance in general, the findings show that this practice is most beneficial when the CEO and the TMT members differ in their informational demographics but have a longer tenure overlap. If either dissimilarity in informational demographics or tenure overlap is lacking, the CEO's empowerment of the TMT has a less positive effect on firm performance. Essentially, a three-way interaction is demonstrated. Introducing boundary conditions for the empowerment of TMTs by CEOs and testing their interactive influence broadens our understanding of how CEO leadership style can affect organizational performance, and refines the guidance for practitioners on TMT management.     

A multiple buyer – supplier relationship in the context of SMEs’ digital supply chain management*

Abstract

By underlining the relevance of the use of ICTs, knowledge sharing and electronic markets for SMEs, it emerges the need for stimulating a debate on digitisation process of supply chain management (SCM). Electronic infrastructure in the service sector are reducing each kind of cost and improving multiply buyer–supplier relationships, facilitating negotiations and transactions. However, since the coordination costs are still high, the use of ICTs is limited. This phenomenon thus attracts the interests of scholars and practitioners. Although it still needs to further investigate. Especially, the optimal use of ICTs within SMEs’ SCM have not been studied yet. Therefore, by leveraging on four proxies: ICTs specialised human resources, knowledge sharing activities, buyer–supplier relationships, adoption of electronic markets this optimal was analysed via structural equation modelling based on a sample of 1254 SMEs operating in the service sector in Italy.     

CEO political liberalism,stakeholders, and firms’ support for LGBT employees

We argue that CEO political liberalism, or the extent to which CEOs are more liberal rather than conservative, affects firms’ support for LGBT employees. Specifically, compared to conservative CEOs, liberal CEOs will be more likely to support LGBT employees by implementing LGBT-friendly policies. We furthermore posit that the presence of certain internal and external stakeholders—including boards, top management teams, and employees, as well as transient institutional investors and LGBT advocacy organizations—alter the proposed effect. Results based on a sample of Fortune 500 firms support our arguments. Our findings contribute to the literatures on leadership, stakeholders, and workplace diversity.     

并购后高管变更、合法性与并购绩效——基于制度理论的视角

并购后的高管变更对于企业的并购绩效具有重要的影响,但目前的研究结论没有取得一致性。本文基于制度理论的视角引入合法性的概念,通过123份并购样本实证分析了并购后高管变更、合法性以及并购绩效之间的关系。研究结果显示:并购后高管变更与并购的外部合法性和内部合法性之间均存在显著的负相关;而外部合法性和内部合法性对于并购绩效具有显著的积极作用。本研究结论对于我国企业的并购后高管变更决策以及如何提升并购绩效具有理论指导意义。     

Knowledge Accession and Knowledge Acquisition in Strategic Alliances: The Impact of Supplementary and Complementary Dimensions

This paper advances the concepts of knowledge accession and knowledge acquisition in strategic alliances by identifying supplementary and complementary dimensions to these knowledge transfer modes. Complementary knowledge transfer reflects the similarity of knowledge that the partners have and is conducted in pursuit of higher efficiency and productivity to enhance partner firms' existing competitiveness. Supplementary knowledge transfer occurs when partners each possess distinctive core competences and the information that is acquired or accessed increases the business scope of partners. As knowledge accession entails knowledge amalgamation that does not involve organizational learning, costs associated with the transfer process are lower and trust is easier to establish than in the case of knowledge acquisition. The paper reviews the implications of these transfer modes on trust building in alliances and their costs implications and presents a number of propositions for further exploration.     

The Role of Existing Knowledge in New Product Innovativeness and Performance

The purpose of this study is to provide a more thorough assessment of the link between existing knowledge and organizational performance than currently exists in the literature. We identify factors and processes influential in the management of existing knowledge within the areas of learning culture, knowledge building, and organizational performance. Through structural equation modeling, a more thorough examination is given of the role existing knowledge plays in new product performance and innovativeness. In completing this task, we provide insight into the subprocesses of knowledge building by evaluating the influence of shared interpretation and two aspects of information acquisition—efficiency and degree of innovativeness of newly acquired information—on new product development (NPD) outcomes. Included in the examination of these processes are organizational culture and structure characteristics believed to influence knowledge management success.     

The financial crisis,acquisition premiums and the moderating effect of CEO power

The recent financial crisis brought upon a period of increased information uncertainty for firms and market agents and in the context of mergers and acquisitions, increased information asymmetry between bidders and targets. This led to an overall increase in average acquisition premiums. However, the final realized premium can be moderated through CEO characteristics in dealing with such issues as uncertainty and asymmetry. Bidder CEOs can reduce these premiums through their expertise, networks and control: powerful CEOs will tend to pay smaller premiums than weaker CEOs because they are better equipped to deal with the increased information uncertainty and asymmetry, either through risk-averse behavior or better assessment of target quality. Our results based on a six-year sample of S&P500 firms engaged in M&A activity, and centered on the onset of the recent financial crisis, largely support our predictions. While earlier research suggested that CEO power could lead to higher premiums, our study points to the opposite conclusion: during times of financial crisis, CEO power effectively constrains premiums. This extends our understanding of why bidder CEOs overpay beyond the role of bidder anchoring bias, hubris, and target resistance by considering the role of macro-environmental conditions and power.     

CEO grandiose narcissism and firm performance: The role of organizational identification

This study reconciles the positive and negative sides of CEO grandiose narcissism by examining the role that CEO organizational identification plays in moderating the effect of CEO grandiose narcissism on top management team (TMT) behavioral integration. We first distinguish between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and we then draw on upper echelons theory and executive personality research to hypothesize and test a model in which CEO grandiose narcissism is positively related to TMT behavioral integration when CEOs are high in organizational identification. The relationship is expected to be negative when CEOs do not identify strongly with their organizations. TMT behavioral integration, in turn, predicts subsequent firm performance. Findings based on multi-source data from a sample of 97 CEOs and their firms supported the hypotheses. These results highlight the complex nature of CEO grandiose narcissism – namely, that the construct has both positive and negative aspects as it relates to top management team dynamics and firm performance and that the relationship is affected by CEOs' identification with their organizations.     

Too Negative to Take Risks? The Effect of the CEO's Emotional Traits on Firm Risk

Except for some recent survey and experimental studies, strategic management research has tended to neglect the influence of emotions on managers' strategic choices. This paper analyses the influence of the stable, long‐term emotional traits of CEOs on an actual business outcome: risk taking. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 51 Spanish banks and savings banks. Our results show that CEO affective traits influence banks' risk taking. Specifically, our analyses show that managers' negative affective traits are related to lower risk taking as reflected in a lower variability in performance, a lower level of credit risk and a less risky composition of the loan portfolios of the banks they manage. Positive affective traits do not seem to influence the level of risk. These findings partially support ‘affect congruency and generalization’ arguments, and show the need to consider the role of affects when analysing CEOs' strategic choices.     

The face says it all: CEOs,gender, and predicting corporate performance

This study examined relationships among CEOs' facial appearance, gender-linked traits, and the financial performance of their company as indicated by Fortune 1000 rank and company profits. Naïve college students rated traits based solely on the facial appearance of male and female CEOs whose companies were matched by Fortune 1000 rank. Female CEOs were rated higher than male CEOs on communal traits (supportiveness, compassion, warmth), whereas male CEOs were rated higher than female CEOs on agentic traits (dominance, leadership, powerfulness), consistent with social role theory. Correlations with company rank and/or profits were found for powerfulness for male CEOs, and for supportiveness, warmth and compassion for female CEOs. For female CEOs, a communal composite predicted company rank and profits, and an agentic composite marginally predicted company rank. The findings do not indicate why these variables are related, but implications for the association of gender-linked traits with top corporate leaders are discussed.     

The role of organisational drivers of exploration and exploitation – Market dynamism as a contingency factor

Simultaneously engaging in exploration and exploitation is crucial to firms' short- and long-term survival. Therefore, it is remarkable that many open questions remain regarding organisational contextual factors which support these distinct and complementary practices. Consequently, this study analyses the relations of three knowledge-related organisational contextual factors, namely customer involvement, knowledge sharing, and data-driven decision-making, with exploratory and exploitative practices. We further propose that these relationships are contingent on the degree of market dynamism, which we identify as a pivotal environmental contingency factor. To test our hypotheses, we create and compare two structural equation models based on a sample of 779 German firms, which we split at the median value of market dynamism. The relationships of knowledge sharing and data-driven decision-making with exploitation are positive, stable, and contingent on the degree of market dynamism, while the relations between the organisational factors and exploration tend to be less systematic. These findings foster a nuanced understanding of knowledge-related organisational contextual factors facilitating organisations’ simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation in dependence on the market environment, which has not been extensively researched yet. Moreover, we illuminate links between the research on exploration and exploitation, ambidexterity, open innovation, information systems, and strategic management.     

Organisation structure,management style and company performance

This paper examines the relationship between organisation structure and management style and their influence on organisational effectiveness measured in both ‘human’ and financial terms. Account has also been taken of related contextual factors such as differences in task, size and environment of a company. Using information collected from a sample of fifty small and medium size printing and building firms the authors have elaborated a conceptual model involving the independent attributes; integration, control, task orientation and people orientation. The validity of this model has been operationally tested and examined against the background of evidence reported by other research workers on the contextual determinants of organisational structure and management style. Substantially different patterns of association between ‘organisation’ and ‘style’ and company performance are found for the two industries and an important outcome of the research has been to produce further evidence in favour of the contingency theory of organisation. The paper concludes with some implications for management practice and organisational design.     

Network Embeddedness in Exploration and Exploitation of Joint R&D Projects: A Structural Approach

This paper analyses how network embeddedness affects the exploration and exploitation of R&D project performance. By developing joint projects, partners and projects are linked to one another and form a network that generates social capital. We examine how the location, which determines the access to information and knowledge within a network of relationships, affects the performance of projects. We consider this question in the setup of exploration and exploitation projects, using a database built from an EU framework. We find that each of the structural embeddedness dimensions (degree, betweenness and eigenvector centrality) have a different impact on the exploration and exploitation project performance. Our empirical analysis extends to project management literature and social capital theory, by including the effect that the acquisition of external knowledge has on the performance of the project.