Is It All about the Bottom Line? A Review and Prospects of Bottom-line Mentality Research in Organizational Management

Abstract

Abstract: Bottom-line mentality refers to one-dimensional thinking that revolves around securing bottom-line outcomes to the neglect of competing priorities. At present, the existing literature has made some progress, but there are few systematic review studies. This paper introduces the concept and measurement of bottom-line mentality, and then systematically analyzes and summarizes the antecedents, consequences and influence mechanisms of bottom-line mentality based on previous empirical studies, and then constructs an integrated analysis framework and puts forward some directions of future research. We find that most of the existing research mostly focuses on the impact of bottom-line mentality in the Western context, and pay little attention to its antecedents and the impact in the Chinese context. Therefore, the present paper proposes some directions for future research, including clarifying the connotation and characteristics of bottom-line mentality in Eastern contexts, optimizing the structural dimensions and measurement of bottom-line mentality, exploring more antecedents and consequences of bottom-line mentality, and extending multilevel consequences of bottom-line mentality. This paper provides an important reference for deepening the research and practice of the bottom-line mentality.

Key words: bottom-line mentality, bottom-line outcomes, financial consequences, one-dimensional thinking

Zhan Xiaojun, Yang Wei, Lu Na. Is It All about the Bottom Line? A Review and Prospects of Bottom-line Mentality Research in Organizational Management[J]. Management Review, 2021, 33(8): 224-233.

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