Showing papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly in 1999"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce the construct of team psychological safety, a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking, and test it in a multimethod field study.
Abstract: This paper presents a model of team learning and tests it in a multimethod field study. It introduces the construct of team psychological safety—a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking—and models the effects of team psychological safety and team efficacy together on learning and performance in organizational work teams. Results of a study of 51 work teams in a manufacturing company, measuring antecedent, process, and outcome variables, show that team psychological safety is associated with learning behavior, but team efficacy is not, when controlling for team psychological safety. As predicted, learning behavior mediates between team psychological safety and team performance. The results support an integrative perspective in which both team structures, such as context support and team leader coaching, and shared beliefs shape team outcomes.
6,953 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors combine the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowledge to explain the role of weak links in sharing knowledge across organization subunits.
Abstract: This paper combines the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowledge to explain the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits in a...
5,947 citations
TL;DR: A multimethod field study of 92 workgroups explored the influence of three types of workgroup diversity (social category diversity, value diversity, and informational diversity) and two moderators.
Abstract: A multimethod field study of 92 workgroups explored the influence of three types of workgroup diversity (social category diversity, value diversity, and informational diversity) and two moderators ...
2,873 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate how the interorganizational networks of young companies affect their ability to acquire the resources necessary for survival and growth and propose that third parties rely on the prominence of the affiliates of those companies to make judgments about their quality and that young companies "endorsed by prominent exchange partners will perform better than otherwise comparable ventures that lack prominent associates.
Abstract: This paper investigates how the interorganizational networks of young companies affect their ability to acquire the resources necessary for survival and growth. We propose that, faced with great uncertainty about the quality of young companies, third parties rely on the prominence of the affiliates of those companies to make judgments about their quality and that young companies “endorsed” by prominent exchange partners will perform better than otherwise comparable ventures that lack prominent associates. Results of an empirical examination of the rate of initial public offering (IPO) and the market capitalization at IPO of the members of a large sample of venture-capital-backed biotechnology firms show that privately held biotech firms with prominent strategic alliance partners and organizational equity investors go to IPO faster and earn greater valuations at IPO than firms that lack such connections. We also empirically demonstrate that much of the benefit of having prominent affiliates stems from the ...
2,620 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an integrative model of the relationships among diversity, conflict, and performance is presented, and the authors test that model with a sample of 45 teams and find that diversity shapes conflict and that conflict, in turn, shapes performance, but these linkages have subtleties.
Abstract: In this paper we present an integrative model of the relationships among diversity, conflict, and performance, and we test that model with a sample of 45 teams. Findings show that diversity shapes conflict and that conflict, in turn, shapes performance, but these linkages have subtleties. Functional background diversity drives task conflict, but multiple types of diversity drive emotional conflict. Race and tenure diversity are positively associated with emotional conflict, while age diversity is negatively associated with such conflict. Task routineness and group longevity moderate these relationships. Results further show that task conflict has more favorable effects on cognitive task performance than does emotional conflict. Overall, these patterns suggest a complex link between work group diversity and work group functioning.
2,480 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe how people adapt to new roles by experimenting with provisional selves that serve as trials for possible but not yet fully elaborated professional identities, and how people experiment with different identities in different contexts.
Abstract: This article describes how people adapt to new roles by experimenting with provisional selves that serve as trials for possible but not yet fully elaborated professional identities. Qualitative dat...
2,078 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the fate of a classic article in organizational theory, DiMaggio and Powell's 1983 essay on institutional isomorphism, and show that one aspect of this article, the discussion of mimetic isomorphisms has received attention disproportionate to its role in the essay.
Abstract: Arguing that knowledge in the social sciences is socially constructed through the selective interpretation of major works, we examine the fate of a classic article in organizational theory, DiMaggio and Powell's 1983 essay on institutional isomorphism. We show that one aspect of this article, the discussion of mimetic isomorphism, has received attention disproportionate to its role in the essay. A detailed examination of 26 articles in which researchers attempted to operationalize various components of DiMaggio and Powell's model shows that measures used to capture one of their concepts could have served as valid measures of one of the others. Findings show that DiMaggio and Powell's thesis has become socially constructed, as authors have selectively appropriated aspects of the work that accord with prevalent discourse in the field, and that centrally located researchers in sociology and organizational behavior are more likely than other scholars to invoke this dominant interpretation of their article.
1,081 citations
TL;DR: Findings suggest that relatively inexperienced acquirers, after making their first acquisition, inappropriately generalize acquisition experience to subsequent dissimilar acquisitions, while more experienced acquirers appropriately discriminate between their acquisitions.
Abstract: Drawing on work from behavioral learning theory in psychology, this study examines the influence of prior organizational acquisition experience on the performance of acquisitions. This theory, which examines both the conditions preceding organization events and organizational responses, predicts that experience effects may range from positive to negative. Consistent with this theory, data from 449 acquisitions show an overall U-shaped relationship between organization acquisition experience and acquisition performance. In addition, the more similar a firm's acquisition targets are to its prior targets, the better they perform. These findings suggest that relatively inexperienced acquirers, after making their first acquisition, inappropriately generalize acquisition experience to subsequent dissimilar acquisitions, while more experienced acquirers appropriately discriminate between their acquisitions. Behavioral learning theory, then, may enhance understanding of organization experience effects.
1,069 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of the quality circle management fashion focuses on three features of management-knowledge entrepreneurs' discourse promoting or discrediting such fashions: its lifecycle, forces triggering stages in its life cycle, and the type of collective learning it fostered.
Abstract: This theory-development case study of the quality circle management fashion focuses on three features of management-knowledge entrepreneurs' discourse promoting or discrediting such fashions: its lifecycle, forces triggering stages in its lifecycle, and the type of collective learning it fostered. Results suggest, first, that variability in when different types of knowledge entrepreneurs begin, continue, and stop promoting fashions explains variability in their lifecycles; second, that historically unique conjunctions of forces, endogenous and exogenous to the management-fashion market, trigger and shape management fashions; and third, that emotionally charged, enthusiastic, and unreasoned discourse characterizes the upswings of management fashion waves, whereas more reasoned, unemotional, and qualified discourse characterizes their downswings, evidencing a pattern of superstitious collective learning.
1,027 citations
TL;DR: The authors describe a qualitative study of how people use their time at work, why they use it this way, and whether their way of using time is optimal for them or their work groups.
Abstract: This paper describes a qualitative study of how people use their time at work, why they use it this way, and whether their way of using time is optimal for them or their work groups. Results of a n...
855 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined how a producer's status in the market influences its choices about product quality, and the outcomes that result, and found that actors occupying high status positions obtain greater benefit from subsequent high-status affiliations than do actors occupying low-status positions.
Abstract: This paper examines how a producer's status in the market influences its choices about product quality, and the outcomes that result. We compare economic models of reputation that emphasize the role of past quality as a source of information about current quality with sociological models of status that emphasize the role of affiliations. We test hypotheses about the complementary effects of status and reputation in an analysis of more than 10,000 affiliation decisions made by 595 wineries over a 10-year period. Results show that actors occupying high-status positions obtain greater benefit from subsequent high-status affiliations than do actors occupying low-status positions. As such, these actors are more willing and able to pay for subsequent high-status affiliations and to use them to advance their position in the larger status ordering.
TL;DR: In this article, three studies were used to examine how surveillance and sanctioning systems affect cooperative behavior in dilemma situations, and the first two studies demonstrate that a weak sanctioning system result in weak cooperative behavior.
Abstract: Three studies are used to examine how surveillance and sanctioning systems affect cooperative behavior in dilemma situations. The first two studies demonstrate that a weak sanctioning system result...
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative study of human resource management in firms located in six European countries was conducted to compare the adoption of both calculative and collaborative human resource practices, and the results showed that institutional determinants, as indicated by the national embeddedness of firms, have a strong effect on the application of both the two practices.
Abstract: This paper tests predictions from institutional and rational perspectives about the adoption of organizational practices through a comparative study of human resource management in firms located in six European countries. Distinguishing between calculative practices—aimed at efficient use of human resources—and collaborative practices—aimed at promoting the goals of both employees and employer—the paper predicts differences in adoption across countries. Results show that institutional determinants, as indicated by the national embeddedness of firms, have a strong effect on the application of both calculative and collaborative human resource management practices. Firm size, a rational determinant, has a considerable impact on calculative practices, whereas the effect of industrial embeddedness is quite modest for both practices.
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of the social network of board interlocks on strategic alliance formation was examined and the theoretical framework suggests how board interlock ties to other firms can increase the likelihood of forming strategic alliances.
Abstract: This study examines the influence of the social network of board interlocks on strategic alliance formation. Our theoretical framework suggests how board interlock ties to other firms can increase ...
TL;DR: This paper examined the blending of informational and political forces in organizational categorizations in the context of chief executive officer (CEO) compensation and found that boards selectively define peers in self-protective ways such that peer definitions are expanded beyond industry boundaries when firms perform poorly, industries perform well, CEOs are paid highly, and when shareholders are powerfu...
Abstract: We examine the blending of informational and political forces in organizational categorizations in the context of chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. By law, corporate boards are required to provide shareholders with annual justifications for their CEO pay allocations that contain an explicit performance comparison with a set of peer companies that are selected by the board. We collected and analyzed information on the industry membership of chosen peers from a 1993 sample of 280 members of the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500. Our results suggest that boards anchor their comparability judgments within a firm's primary industry, thus supporting the argument that boards' peer definitions center around commonsense industry categories. At the same time, however, we found that boards selectively define peers in self-protective ways, such that peer definitions are expanded beyond industry boundaries when firms perform poorly, industries perform well, CEOs are paid highly, and when shareholders are powerfu...
TL;DR: Unlike prior research on organizational age dependence, which has described entire populations as exhibiting a liability of newness, adolescence, or obsolescence, the authors adopts a contingent vie...
Abstract: Unlike prior research on organizational age dependence, which has described entire populations as exhibiting a liability of newness, adolescence, or obsolescence, this study adopts a contingent vie...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how the place of banks in the intercorporate network has changed as a result of their decreasing role as financial intermediaries in the U.S. economy.
Abstract: This paper examines how the place of banks in the intercorporate network has changed as a result of their decreasing role as financial intermediaries in the U.S. economy. An analysis of comprehensi...
TL;DR: In this paper, an institutional theory of action is used to explore the consequences of formal and informal rules on the chief executive officer (CEO) succession process, and an analysis of the competing...
Abstract: This paper follows an institutional theory of action in exploring the consequences of formal and informal rules on the chief executive officer (CEO) succession process. An analysis of the competing...
TL;DR: In this article, a study of Swedish workers investigates gender wage inequality, specifically whether earnings are affected by the gender composition of establishments' managerial and supervisory staff, and finds that women who work in establishments in which relatively many of the managers are men have lower wages than women with similar qualifications and job demands.
Abstract: This study of Swedish workers investigates gender wage inequality, specifically, whether earnings are affected by the gender composition of establishments' managerial and supervisory staff. Theoretical arguments focus on managers' propensity to create and maintain or to undermine institutionalized gender bias and employees' capacity to mobilize resources and establish claims in the wage distribution process, mainly through social networks. Results show that gender-differentiated access to organizational power structures is essential in explaining women's relatively low wages. Women who work in establishments in which relatively many of the managers are men have lower wages than women with similar qualifications and job demands in establishments with more women in the power structure.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a conceptual model of the circulation of corporate control, the instability in formal authority at the top of large corporations, and showed that chief executive officer (CEO) sel...
Abstract: We develop a conceptual model of the circulation of corporate control—the instability in formal authority at the top of large corporations. According to our model, chief executive officer (CEO) sel...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the consequences of changes in the organization's market position on its market share, testing arguments of inertia and regression toward the mean and taking into account recent methodological critiques.
Abstract: This paper examines the consequences of changes in the organization's market position on its market share, testing arguments of inertia and regression toward the mean and taking into account recent methodological critiques of studies on the consequences of organizational change. A study of format change in the U.S. radio industry, 1984—1992, shows that changes cause performance to decline, as inertia theory predicts, but this is moderated by organizational size and performance before the change, so change can be beneficial for low-performing organizations but may be harmful for large and successful organizations.
TL;DR: In this paper, economic theory predicts that organizations will be a mess but not a mystery, and classic case studies conducted by organizational sociologist show that such predictions are not always true.
Abstract: In this essay I advance two related theses. First, economic theory predicts that organizations will be a mess but not a mystery. Second, classic case studies conducted by organizational sociologist...
TL;DR: The authors examines executive maternity leave as a succession event that manifests itself in a novel transition pattern that I term "temporary executive succession" and examines the role of women in this process.
Abstract: The ethnographic study reported here examines executive maternity leave as a succession event that manifests itself in a novel transition pattern that I term “temporary executive succession.” In a ...
TL;DR: Two qualitative studies examined the processes leading to the formation of breakaway organizations as discussed by the authors, which result when groups leave existing organizations to form new organizations. In the first qualitative study, the authors examined the process of forming breakaway groups.
Abstract: Two qualitative studies examined the processes leading to the formation of breakaway organizations, which result when groups leave existing organizations to form new organizations. In the first stu...
TL;DR: Museums & Money as mentioned in this paper studied the changing patterns of funding for the arts in America over the past thirty-five years, focusing on politically sensitive or allegedly pornographic museum exhibitions.
Abstract: Recent controversies over politically sensitive or allegedly pornographic museum exhibitions have called attention to the sources of funding, public and private, of museums and other cultural organizations. Should funders have a say in what gets exhibited by a museum? Would this constitute censorship or merely be a reasonable restraint over the way public or corporate funds are used? While funding for the arts was shifting from individuals to institutions, including the federal government, did the mission and management of museums change?
Museums & Money looks at thirty large art museums and how they have been affected by the changing patterns of funding for the arts in America over the past thirty-five years. Full of insights into the world of arts organizations, Victoria Alexander's study raises important cultural questions as well, with far-reaching implications for the way art is defined, produced, and presented in contemporary America.
TL;DR: This paper explored the role of rational choice accounts in organizational settings, including the French example that Gibbons cites, whose context evolves in ways exogenous to the rational action of individuals, and suggested that articulation of economic and noneconomic concerns in situations in which context and action evolve together is the main theoretical goal, one that will require arguments more complex than those of current sociology or economics.
Abstract: While accepting Robert Gibbons' case for the clarifying role of formal models, this comment explores the role of rational choice accounts in organizational settings—including the French example that Gibbons cites—whose context evolves in ways exogenous to the rational action of individuals. Articulation of economic and noneconomic concerns in situations in which context and action evolve together is suggested as the main theoretical goal, one that will require arguments more complex than those of current sociology or economics.
TL;DR: Gibbons argues persuasively in Taking Coase Seriously (1999) that economic modeling offers a useful set of tools that noneconomists may employ to good effect in their research on organizations as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Gibbons argues persuasively in Taking Coase Seriously (1999) that economic modeling offers a useful set of tools that noneconomists may employ to good effect in their research on organizations. His arguments are even more persuasive if it is understood that this brand of modeling lends itself naturally to one of the key theoretical problems facing such researchers - the need for a theory of aggregation, sometimes called a theory of action. Such a theory is necessary to link the behavior of individuals with properties of collectivites, such as corporations.