TY - JOUR

T1 - Playing Politics

T2 - An Upper Echelons Perspective on Political Behaviour During Acquisition Decision Making

AU - Lou, Bowen

AU - Shepherd, Neil

AU - Strobl, Andreas

AU - Bauer, Florian

PY - 2025/1/31

Y1 - 2025/1/31

N2 - The pre-deal phase of an acquisition is complex, with high stakes and high uncertainty. Consequently, acquisition decision making can be seen as an inherently political process. While political behaviour is a central concept in organizational theory, and despite its inevitability during acquisition decision making owing to the contested nature of the pre-deal phase, there is a shortage of theory and evidence concerning the antecedents, consequences and moderators of political behaviour. To address these theoretical shortcomings, we develop and test a theoretical model of political behaviour focusing on the psychological context of the top management team (TMT). We argue that while political behaviour risks undermining acquisition performance, the degree of board involvement during the pre-deal phase can enable some TMTs to attenuate the damaging effects of political behaviour. Further, we theorize two key antecedents variously fuelling and constraining political behaviour. We contend that while TMT cohesion reduces political behaviour, cognitive diversity increases political behaviour while suppressing the potential for TMT cohesion to prevent political behaviour. We test our theoretical model using a field-based sample of 109 UK acquisitions, combining multiple informants with objective secondary data.

AB - The pre-deal phase of an acquisition is complex, with high stakes and high uncertainty. Consequently, acquisition decision making can be seen as an inherently political process. While political behaviour is a central concept in organizational theory, and despite its inevitability during acquisition decision making owing to the contested nature of the pre-deal phase, there is a shortage of theory and evidence concerning the antecedents, consequences and moderators of political behaviour. To address these theoretical shortcomings, we develop and test a theoretical model of political behaviour focusing on the psychological context of the top management team (TMT). We argue that while political behaviour risks undermining acquisition performance, the degree of board involvement during the pre-deal phase can enable some TMTs to attenuate the damaging effects of political behaviour. Further, we theorize two key antecedents variously fuelling and constraining political behaviour. We contend that while TMT cohesion reduces political behaviour, cognitive diversity increases political behaviour while suppressing the potential for TMT cohesion to prevent political behaviour. We test our theoretical model using a field-based sample of 109 UK acquisitions, combining multiple informants with objective secondary data.

KW - Political behavior

KW - Strategic Decision Making

KW - Top Management Team

KW - Upper Echelons

KW - Cohesion

KW - Cognitive Diversity

KW - Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

KW - Pre-deal Phase

U2 - 10.1111/1467-8551.12831

DO - 10.1111/1467-8551.12831

M3 - Journal article

VL - 36

SP - 110

EP - 129

JO - British Journal of Management

JF - British Journal of Management

SN - 1045-3172

IS - 1

ER -