Adaptive aspirations and performance heterogeneity: Attention allocation among multiple reference points

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Blettner, Daniela P.; He, Zi-Lin; Hu, Songcui; Bettis, Richard A.
• 署名单位: Simon Fraser University; Tilburg University; Tilburg University; University of Arizona; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.2260
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 987-1005
• 关键词: aspiration adaptation; Attention allocation; experience; feedback loops; learning

摘要

Organizations learn and adapt their aspiration levels based on reference points (prior aspiration, prior performance, and prior performance of reference groups). The relative attention that organizations allocate to these reference points impacts organizational search and strategic decisions. However, very little research has explored this. Therefore, we build a recursive feedback model of learning from organizational experience that explains heterogeneity of attention allocation to the reference points in adaptive aspirations. In a sample of the German magazine industry (1972-2010), we find when early in their life cycle and as they or their parent company age, organizations tend to focus more on their own aspirations; however, when at the verge of bankruptcy, they increase their attention to competitors' performance. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.