This paper reports the results of an empirical study that examines how a manager's experience with a specific strategic information technology in their industry influences cognitive managerial tasks associated with new information technologies. Specifically, we sought to assess the effects of both positive and negative managerial experiences on: the framing of new information technologies as threats or opportunities for the firm, the perceived uncertainty associated with responding to new information technologies, and the seeking of information about new information technologies. We undertook this study in the tax preparation industry and examined how managerial perceptions of new information technologies were shaped by managers' previous experiences with electronic filing technology for tax returns. 3 4 LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: MANAGERIAL INTERPRETATIONS OF PAST AND FUTURE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 1.0 Introduction Information and information technologies have long been considere...

In this paper we examine the role of social and organizational knowledge in managerial decision-making. In a series of experiments, we examined the following questions. (1) How are some implicit organizational variables such as the size of a group and the composition of a group related to risk perception and risky decisions? From a Darwinian perspective, humans have lived in small, nomadic, hunter-gatherers' groups throughout almost the entire evolutionary time. In making decisions at risk, the size of the group thus may serve as a cue signalling the structure and functions of a social group (e.g., kinship, reciprocity, interdependence among group members). To investigate the effects of these organizational variables, Wang (1996a, 1996b, 2001) used a well-known example of irrational decisions, framing effects (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981), as an empirical probe. Framing effects, characterized by an irrational reversal in risk preference due to different ways of presenting / framing the same choice outcomes, appeared only in large group contexts but disappeared in small group and kinship group contexts. Evolutionarily recurrent small group contexts (less than 1000 people) eliminated irrational reversal in risk preference. (2) Would risky choices between a sure option and a gamble of equal expected value vary as a function of the types of information provided in a decision problem? In contrast to verbal framing (e.g., presenting the same choice outcomes as if they are gains or as if they are losses), situational information about the real status of an organization should have independent reflection effects on risky choice. This so called reflection effect has been repeatedly shown in the literature, where people tend to be risk averse in gain situations but risk seeking in l...

This paper attempts to establish the applicability of the Miles and Snow typology of strategic orientation to small, entrepreneurial organisations. It posits that congruence between strategic orientation and decision making comprehensiveness of the strategic planning process is a superior determinant of firm performance to planning alone. An empirical study in the Regional Airline industry was conducted to investigate this proposition. Results support the importance of the congruence construct in determining performance in small, entrepreneurial ventures. Keywords:

Despite much research, debate continues about the impact of risk taking on a firm’s future performance. Unlike prior studies, we propose that risk-return relationships evolve as firms age and learn, particularly in high-velocity settings where accumulated knowledge affects how firms respond to technological change. Discerning this requires three things absent from prior analyses: (1) studying an entire population; (2) modeling evolutionary processes; and (3) using separate models to capture how a firm’s gains and losses (i.e., its strong and weak performances) unfold across time. Using this framework, we found that (a) risk-return relationships generally evolved from positive to negative as firms aged; because (b) firms learned to avoid large losses at younger ages than they learned to sustain large gains; yet (c) the risk taking that followed below-aspiration performance moderated those effects such that major setbacks prompted large future gains and large future losses among older firms and downward spirals among younger ones. 1 Relationships between risk and return are central to our lives. In the hope of emotional or monetary rewards, some people take risks by climbing mountains, changing employers, or switching careers. Some executives take risks in pursuit of better pay and enhanced reputations, and some firms pursue risky strategies in a quest for higher sales and profits.

Researchers are invited to present ideas and research results in this forum to accelerate their application and to foster interdisciplinary discussion on knowledge, strategies and tools leading to sustainable management of Canada's boreal forest. Working Papers are published without peer review. Do not cite this Working Paper without the expressed written consent of the author(s).Shades of Green:

Response to environmental change is at the heart of firm sustainability. In the case of disruptive technology, previous research describes this challenge as a problem of commitment. Because disruptive proposals do not fit the criteria considered in the existing resource allocation process, they are denied organizational commitment. The following research seeks to address the phenomenon where incumbents do commit substantial resources, but then force those commitments around their existing business rather than find new markets. The analysis draws on extensive multi-level, longitudinal field data collected from a single revelatory case of a newspaper company as its management responded to the Internet. The conceptual framework for the study links the resource allocation and threat rigidity literatures. The data show that threat framing helps build impetus and commitment for disruptive projects that would otherwise stall. However, this same threat-induced action invokes a set of rigidities that prove maladaptive in the face of disruptive change. The research suggests that the role of structure goes beyond resource allocation. Structural independence creates strategic de-coupling of threat and opportunity framing, allowing the simultaneous management of otherwise inconsistent frames. Keywords: Strategic change, threat, opportunity, resource allocation, framing,

We extend the Western strategic management literature on environmental scanning to the entrepreneurial context by surveying business owners in two countries. Specifically, using the framework of Daft, Sormunen and Parks (1988), we test how perceived environmental uncertainty in seven environmental sectors and information accessibility influence scanning frequency of venture owners in the U.S. and India, two dissimilar entrepreneurial settings. Overall, entrepreneurs in India scan more frequently than do U.S. entrepreneurs, and the perceived rate of environmental change and accessibility of information are associated with their scanning. In the U.S., only perceived information accessibility prompts scanning. These results, which depart from inferences drawn from samples of managers in the Western literature, offer potential for extending scanning theory by cross-culturally broadening the theoretical nexus between organization theory, strategy and entrepreneurship in more fully understanding scanning behavior. Key Words: entrepreneurship, scanning, strategy 2 The literatures of organization theory and strategic management are replete with discussion of the influences of environmental complexity and volatility on organization decision-making, structure and

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to X.T. Wang, Psychology Department,

TMT COORDINATION NEEDS AND THE CEO PAY GAP:

Information Processing and Leadership: A Review and Implications for Application In the current paper, contemporary research that has examined the role of information processing in the context of leadership is reviewed and the implications of this research for application are discussed. Although the vast majority of the leadership literature has focused on external and observable outcomes, such as a leader’s behaviors, the current paper takes an alternative perspective, reviewing literature that has examined leadership from an information processing vantage point. In contemplating the utility of this perspective, consider for a moment the following questions: How does a subordinate decide whether his/her supervisor is a leader? Why does an organizational supervisor punish one subordinate for poor performance but not another? Why does a supervisor utilize a particular behavioral style? As the literature reviewed throughout this paper shall indicate, the answer to each of these questions lies in developing a better understanding of how leaders and subordinates process information. To provide an organizational framework, the present paper is divided into three main sections. In the first portion of this paper, a working definition of leadership and information processing are provided. Next, relevant literature dealing with a leader’s information processing is reviewed, and finally, relevant literature dealing with follower information processing is discussed. Defining Leadership and Information Processing As a starting point, leadership is conceptualized as a social process, one involving both a