Top Management Team Attention and International Performance:The Moderating Effects of Power and Managerial Discretion

Abstract

Abstract:

Internationalization is the most important strategic initiatives for Chinese enterprises to gain sustainable growth and to improve global competitiveness. The top management team (TMT), as the strategic decision maker and implementer, has an important impact on internationalization. However, existing research has focused on the impact of TMT's demographics on internationalization due to the lack of research data, so the cognitive process behind the relationship remains less known. In view of this, our study investigates the influence of TMT cognitive features (attention) on company's international performance. Based on manually collected data about TMT attention and internationalization in technology-intensive industry, this paper empirically examined the effects of TMT attention on company's international performance. The results show that:(1) the international performance is better in the enterprises in which the TMT pays more attention to internationalization and this also shows the TMT attention is an important determinant of company's internationalization. (2) Managerial power and managerial discretion can moderate the relationship between the TMT attention and international performance:stronger managerial power and higher managerial discretion will lead to more positive impact of TMT attention on international performance. This study explores the micro-foundations of enterprises' internationalization, and further provides theoretical and empirical evidence for Upper Echelons Theory. These results have important implications for Chinese enterprises' internationalization.

Key words: top management team, attention, managerial power, managerial discretion

Dong Linping, Song Yuanyang. Top Management Team Attention and International Performance:The Moderating Effects of Power and Managerial Discretion[J]. , 2017, 29(8): 167-178.

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