The influence of top management team attention patterns on global strategic posture of firms

Abstract

SummaryDrawing upon the managerial cognition and the upper echelons perspectives, this study proposes that the cognitive capabilities of top executives significantly affect globalization efforts. Specifically, the study suggests that managerial attention patterns or the cognitive processes of 'noticing and constructing meaning' about the environment influence strategic posture of firms. Based on a longitudinal sample of U.S. firms operating in technologically intensive industries, the results indicate that firms were more likely to develop an expansive global strategic posture when their top management paid attention to the external environment and considered a diverse set of elements in this environment. On the other hand, firms led by top management that paid more attention to the internal environment were less likely to be global.

Corporate Philanthropic Responses to Emergent Human Needs: The Role of Organizational Attention Focus

“…This content-based approach is in line with extant research showing that management communications reflect the perception and input of senior management and encompass the topics and issues that the company attends to (D'Aveni and MacMillan 1990;Levy 2005;Maula et al 2013). Although such communications can have multiple purposes, they have been shown to capture concepts that are central to attention in the organization, and are indicative of managers' strategies for sensemaking (Cho and Hambrick 2006;Kaplan 2008).…”

“…Given that identity drives organizations to manage internal and external relations in similar ways (Brickson 2005), we theorize that managerial attention directed at employees inside the organization may also be related to behaviors aimed at human issues outside the organization, such as corporate philanthropy. In regards to places, research using the attention-based view (Barnett 2008;Hoffman and Ocasio 2001;Rerup 2009) shows that the way in which organizational resources are allocated through geographic space can be explained by attention mechanisms (Bouquet and Birkinshaw 2008;Levy 2005). Building on attention-based research establishing that organizations direct the most resources toward subsidiaries and units in places to which management pays the most attention (Bouquet and Birkinshaw 2008), we theorize that the geographic focus of organizational attention may also affect socially directed resource allocations external to the organization, such as corporate philanthropy.…”

Home country institutions and the internationalization of state owned enterprises: A cross-country analysis

“…Consequently, the effectiveness of practices such as work involvement varies with power distance: in high power distance countries employees follow instrumental incentives, whereas symbolic values are more important to motivate employees in low power distance countries (Jiang et al, 2015). Second, low power distance facilitates the flow of ideas and innovations between ordinary staff members and top management and increases managerial attention to external cues, which in turn facilitates organizational responsiveness to the recognition of international opportunities (Geletkanycz, 1997;Levy, 2005). Hence, individuals of lower status have more opportunities to monitor and influence decision making with lower power distance.…”

An Investigation of Export Practices and Performance across Global Mindset Orientations

“…1; management team attention to global issues. A study by Levy (2005) suggests that firms are more likely to be highly global when their top management pays attention to the global environment and considers a diverse set of elements in this environment; on the other hand, firms led by top management teams that pay attention to the internal environment are less likely to consider globalization as a viable strategic choice. In a more recent study conducted by Kraft, Dowling, and Helm (2012) on a sample of 259 internationally operating businesses based in Germany, findings indicate that business mindset orientations influence performance and such influence is enhanced by better coordination with marketing strategies.…”