{"title":"Information visualization and strategic problem comprehension as drivers of strategic decisions","authors":"Karin Eberhard, Torsten Wulf","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite its practical relevance for strategic decision processes in organizations, research on strategic cognition has thus far largely ignored the impact of information visualization. This is surprising as research in the fields of cognitive psychology and medicine shows quite consistently that visual aids have positive effects on decision makers’ comprehension of the issues at hand and – consequently – their decision outcomes. In this paper, we build on cognitive psychology and strategic cognition research to introduce strategic problem comprehension as a concept that links information visualization and strategic decision outcomes. We hypothesize that information visualization leads to higher levels of strategic problem comprehension, as it fosters the integration and comparison of relevant information, which subsequently improves strategic decision outcomes. Furthermore, we identify overconfidence as a boundary condition for the effect of information visualization on strategic problem comprehension Two vignette-based decision experiments involving 62 graduate-level management students and 79 executives, respectively, confirm our hypotheses. Our study contributes to strategic cognition research by specifying the important impact of information visualization as well as strategic problem comprehension for strategic decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 1","pages":"Pages 130-141"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135605471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Long-term performance of technology acquisitions: The role of acquisition program diversity, innovation, and alliance portfolio size – Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry","authors":"Lars Schweizer, Le Wang, Eva Koscher","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.07.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates whether serial acquisitions enhance shareholder value in the context of technology acquisitions. We analyze how acquisition program diversity – defined as differences between multiple targets' firm types – affects long-term acquisition performance and examine how this relationship is contingent on strategic resources. By testing data regarding 312 technology acquisitions by 147 public pharmaceutical companies from 2002 to 2021, we find that the effect of acquisition program diversity on shareholder value follows an inverted U-shaped curve moderated by the acquirers' innovation level and alliance portfolio size. Our findings indicate that the performance of technology acquisitions depends on the acquiring firms’ diversification degree regarding the industry value chain and internal and external resources relevant to corporate development strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 1","pages":"Pages 154-168"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43272374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CEO overconfidence, customer satisfaction, and firm value: An investigation of mediating and moderating effects","authors":"Wen Hua Sharpe , Phong Minh Nguyen , Sisira Colombage","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.11.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing from the upper echelons theory and the balanced scorecard theory, this study investigates potential associations between CEO overconfidence, customer satisfaction, and firm value. Using a dataset of US public firms spanning from 1994 to 2019, we first examine the relationship between CEO overconfidence and customer satisfaction, focusing on the mediating role of R&D and advertising expenditures, and the moderating role of CEO equity-based compensation. We find that CEO overconfidence positively influences customer satisfaction, and this positive impact is partially mediated by R&D and advertising. In addition, moderated path analysis indicates that CEO equity-based compensation increases the indirect effect of CEO overconfidence on customer satisfaction. We next examine and document that CEO overconfidence moderates the positive impact of customer satisfaction on firm value. Our results contribute to the extant literature by highlighting that CEO overconfidence not only positively affects shareholder value, but also links to the consequences of strategic marketing decisions, such as customer satisfaction. Our study provides implications for boards of directors, who may need to align CEO and firm marketing spending decisions. It also raises shareholders’ awareness of the presence and impact of CEO overconfidence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 1","pages":"Pages 101-114"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138531507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Board composition, audit committee characteristics, and R&D expenditure","authors":"Gianluca Ginesti , Rosanna Spanò , Domenico Campa , Riccardo Macchioni","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine the impact of board members’ expertise, chief financial officer (CFO) board membership, and audit committee characteristics on the level of research and development (R&D) expenditure. Using a sample of listed companies from 16 European countries over the period from 2014 to 2020, multivariate regression models and controls for endogeneity, our results show that firms with a CFO who serves as a board member reduce R&D expenditures, while enhanced board expertise has the opposite effect. We also find that audit committee financial expertise is positively associated with the level of R&D spending, while the independence of audit committee members reduces the propensity of firms to exhibit R&D expenditures. These results contribute to the academic and policy debate by offering novel insights into which combinations of corporate governance characteristics are more likely to affect variations in the level of R&D expenditure among firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 1","pages":"Pages 115-129"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138531508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robert J. Pidduck , Daniel R. Clark , Yejun (John) Zhang
{"title":"Generating entrepreneurial imaginativeness from intercultural Janusian thinking","authors":"Robert J. Pidduck , Daniel R. Clark , Yejun (John) Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.01.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.01.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on the importance of entrepreneurial imaginativeness in new venture development continues to grow. Empirical studies so far have focused predominantly on its ideation-based outcomes—the number and quality of ideas produced. Knowledge remains scant, however, on imaginativeness' antecedent mechanisms and mediating role in nascent venturing (the activities that often precede formal launches). We integrate another growing research stream in entrepreneurship—multicultural experience—to probe how the creative, social, and practical cognitive schemas underpinning entrepreneurial imaginativeness can be generated through dimensions of perhaps the most distinctive form of cultural exposure: living abroad. Drawing upon schema theory and combining precepts of Janusian-cognition and abductive thinking, we find support for our theorizing that depth and breadth of experiences of living abroad relate to imaginativeness facets differentially, which in turn can help us understand the extent to which entrepreneurs attempt to launch ventures. We consider both the theoretical and broader practical applications that deliberative imaginativeness cultivation might have, discussing some of wide-reaching and constructive implications this holds for the development of innovative economies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"43 1","pages":"Pages 59-73"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139677739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining executives’ role conflicts in German-international joint ventures: A qualitative analysis","authors":"Marius G. Gehrisch","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.11.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.11.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The purpose of this study is to examine what conflicting roles executives of international joint ventures (IJV) perceive and to explicate what consequences result from such discords, particularly how and under what conditions role conflicts relate to IJV performance. A qualitative approach was followed by analyzing 23 semi-structured interviews based on Saldaña's two coding cycles. Results present comprehensive catalogs of IJV executives' roles as well as role conflicts, along with a conceptual model that shows (positive, but especially negative) consequences of role conflicts. This model sheds light on the black box of the relationship between role conflicts and IJV performance, thus opening a promising basis for further behavioral research embedded in alliance management. In addition, the established catalogs of identified role(s) (conflicts) contribute to the research field of global leadership.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"42 6","pages":"Pages 920-932"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138531506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impartial spectator and the pursuit of interest in commercial society: A dual-text reading of Adam Smith for contemporary business and management","authors":"Juan Enrique Castro C.","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.08.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.08.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article encourages a dual reading of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WoN). The combined messages are important for contemporary business and management. One of the most important teachings from Adam Smith is that he makes us aware of the importance of an equilibrium between our own interests and those of individuals whom we deal and interact with in our economic life. When this is achieved with the help of the impartial spectator, in a well governed society, where there is simultaneous respect from individuals and the law for the natural flow of the economy, it is possible to achieve our own interests and those of our counterparts, and most important, we can project benefits, which may be unintended, to the society as a whole. Through this Smithian lens, we can see that business and management have a concern not only with economic projection, but also with the plurality of economic and social pursuits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"42 6","pages":"Pages 848-854"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142181546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jari Martikainen , Anneli Hujala , Helena Taskinen
{"title":"Studying social representations of cross-boundary collaboration between managers through drawings","authors":"Jari Martikainen , Anneli Hujala , Helena Taskinen","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.10.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines cross-boundary collaboration between middle managers working in health and social care in Finland. It approaches the topic from social representations theory, focusing on middle managers’ everyday perceptions and experiences of cross-boundary collaboration. Drawing images of collaboration was used as an arts-based method of data production. The data consisted of 14 drawings (one from each participating manager) depicting collaboration between managers and their verbal reflections. The visual and verbal data were analyzed by content analysis. The study identified four social representations of collaboration between managers: <em>feeling of togetherness</em>, <em>challenge of dispersion</em>, <em>reward of practicality</em>, and <em>joys and sorrows of diversity</em>. The paper contributes to the current knowledge on cross-boundary collaboration between managers with practical implications. In addition, the paper provides a novel theoretical and methodological approach to studying cross-boundary collaboration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"42 6","pages":"Pages 907-919"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135321705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public issues and public expectations: Disentangling responsibility discourse dimensions in CSR and sustainability books","authors":"Muhammad Atif , Marco Bottura , Raheel Yasin","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.07.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2023.07.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to understand how society views modern business practices and what is expected of businesses. To do this, we unearth the covert patterns and latent themes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourse in popular CSR and sustainability books. Building upon Habermas' discourse ethics, CSR and sustainability constructs are examined from societal perspectives, assuming that the notion of conceptualization is embedded in the societal context. We find two main themes which consistently refer to five dimensions of discourse: economic, social, environmental, philosophical, and political dimensions. Further, we found that an “expectation gap” exists between what the public expects business to accomplish, and what businesses believe they must accomplish in their responsibility agendas. We argue that the term CSR remains relatively academic and has limited exposure in public media.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"42 6","pages":"Pages 957-967"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42812212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Moral sentiments and sustainable finance: A proposal for new market segmentation","authors":"Tom Hashimoto , Maik Huettinger","doi":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.08.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.emj.2024.08.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article revisits Smith's account of self-interest to critically explore challenges and debates surrounding sustainable finance in contemporary organizational and institutional settings. Adam Smith derives his notion of ‘self-interest’ as concerned with both ‘self-love’ (care for oneself) and ‘sympathy’ (care for others); elements that are increasingly siloed in contemporary business settings. Drawing inspiration from <em>An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations</em> (WoN) and the insightful wisdom of <em>The Theory of Moral Sentiments</em> (TMS), this article aims to underscore how Smith's pivotal concepts, including sympathy, the impartial spectator, and justice, provide a strategic compass for characterizing demand within retail finance markets. More specifically, it argues for the potential for both demand and supply side considerations in sustainable finance to contemplate a more plural concept of self-interest. At the same time, it recognizes that currently available ESG (environmental, social, and governance) products are largely driven by ‘self-love,’ and as such, the ‘sympathy’ of investors is ignored, manipulated, or misplaced. To move beyond this socio-financial dilemma, we propose to segment sustainable finance into the ESG market and the SSI (social and sustainable investment) market, with the latter specifically addressing the demands for ‘sympathy.’ In this context, future work could explore and highlight the role of regulators in ensuring a Smithian self-interest in sustainable finance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48290,"journal":{"name":"European Management Journal","volume":"42 6","pages":"Pages 855-863"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142181544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}