Attainment Discrepancy and Corporate Strategic Orientation——An Empirical Analysis Based on Chinese Listed Companies

Abstract

Abstract: Existing literature has examined the impact of strategic orientation, but revealed little about the antecedents of strategic orientation. Based on firm behavior theory, this paper explores the relationship between attainment discrepancy and corporate strategic orientation, and the moderating role of performance volatility and financial slack. Using the empirical data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2016, this study finds that: Negative attainment discrepancy has an inverted U-shaped relationship with prospector strategy; Positive attainment discrepancy has an inverted U-shaped relationship with corporate defensive strategy; Performance volatility enhance the inverted U-shaped relationship between the negative attainment discrepancy and the corporate prospector strategy, as well as the inverted U-shaped relationship between the positive attainment discrepancy and the corporate defensive strategy; Financial slack enhances the inverted U-shaped relationship between the negative attainment discrepancy and the corporate prospector strategy, but weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between the positive attainment discrepancy and the corporate defensive strategy.

Key words: negative attainment discrepancy, positive attainment discrepancy, prospector strategy, defensive strategy

Zhong Xi, Song Tiebo, Chen Weihong, Weng Yimin. Attainment Discrepancy and Corporate Strategic Orientation——An Empirical Analysis Based on Chinese Listed Companies[J]. Management Review, 2022, 34(1): 242-254.

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