TY - JOUR

T1 - Political behavior does not (always) undermine strategic decision making

T2 - Theory and evidence

AU - Shepherd, Neil Gareth

AU - Hodgkinson, Gerard P.

AU - Mooi, Erik A.

AU - Elbanna, Said

AU - Rudd, John Maynard

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2020/10/31

Y1 - 2020/10/31

N2 - Political behavior pervades strategic decision-making, often damaging decision quality and undermining organizational performance. However, little is currently known about how top management teams (TMTs) cope with such behavior. To address this shortfall, we draw on the upper echelons literature to advance a contingent account of the factors that differentiate well-functioning and dysfunctional TMTs. Focusing on the psychological context surrounding the TMT, we theorize that cognitive consensus, power decentralization, and behavioral integration are key generative mechanisms that enable TMTs to countermand the potentially deleterious consequences of political behavior. We corroborate our theorizing using a field study of 117 strategic decisions, drawn from multiple TMT informants and secondary databases. Confirming the majority of our hypotheses, our findings indicate that behaviorally integrated and decentralized TMTs are better equipped to attenuate the potentially damaging effects of organizational politics, thereby safeguarding the quality of their decision processes.

AB - Political behavior pervades strategic decision-making, often damaging decision quality and undermining organizational performance. However, little is currently known about how top management teams (TMTs) cope with such behavior. To address this shortfall, we draw on the upper echelons literature to advance a contingent account of the factors that differentiate well-functioning and dysfunctional TMTs. Focusing on the psychological context surrounding the TMT, we theorize that cognitive consensus, power decentralization, and behavioral integration are key generative mechanisms that enable TMTs to countermand the potentially deleterious consequences of political behavior. We corroborate our theorizing using a field study of 117 strategic decisions, drawn from multiple TMT informants and secondary databases. Confirming the majority of our hypotheses, our findings indicate that behaviorally integrated and decentralized TMTs are better equipped to attenuate the potentially damaging effects of organizational politics, thereby safeguarding the quality of their decision processes.

KW - Behavioral strategy

KW - Cognition

KW - Political behavior

KW - Strategic decision-making

KW - Top management teams

KW - Upper echelons

U2 - 10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101943

DO - 10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101943

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85075862365

VL - 53

JO - Long Range Planning

JF - Long Range Planning

SN - 0024-6301

IS - 5

M1 - 101943

ER -