IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v36y2015i7p1006-1016.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Attention allocation to multiple goals: The case of for-profit social enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Stevens
  • Nathalie Moray
  • Johan Bruneel
  • Bart Clarysse

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="smj2265-abs-0001"> The complexity of issues firms have to attend to make it impossible for CEOs to give their full attention to all issues concurrently. Drawing on the “attention-based view” of the firm, this paper opens the black box of attention allocation in for-profit social enterprises by showing how attention structures and the context in which the firm operates interplay. Utilizing empirical data on 148 for-profit social enterprises, findings show that the attention structures—other-regarding values, utilitarian identity, and resource availability—have a significant impact on the relative attention to social goals, while past firm performance as a context variable moderates these relations. Applying the principles of structural and situated attention, this paper makes an important contribution to management theory and attention allocation in for-profit social enterprises . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Stevens & Nathalie Moray & Johan Bruneel & Bart Clarysse, 2015. "Attention allocation to multiple goals: The case of for-profit social enterprises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1006-1016, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:36:y:2015:i:7:p:1006-1016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/smj.2265
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sucheta Nadkarni & Pamela S. Barr, 2008. "Environmental context, managerial cognition, and strategic action: an integrated view," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(13), pages 1395-1427, December.
    2. William Ocasio, 2011. "Attention to Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1286-1296, October.
    3. Filipe Santos, 2012. "A Positive Theory of Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 335-351, December.
    4. J. P. Eggers & Sarah Kaplan, 2009. "Cognition and Renewal: Comparing CEO and Organizational Effects on Incumbent Adaptation to Technical Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 461-477, April.
    5. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    6. Balagopal Vissa & Henrich R. Greve & Wei-Ru Chen, 2010. "Business Group Affiliation and Firm Search Behavior in India: Responsiveness and Focus of Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 696-712, June.
    7. Wei‐Ru Chen & Kent D. Miller, 2007. "Situational and institutional determinants of firms' R&D search intensity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 369-381, April.
    8. Vangelis Souitaris & B. M. Marcello Maestro, 2010. "Polychronicity in top management teams: The impact on strategic decision processes and performance of new technology ventures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 652-678, June.
    9. Mooweon Rhee, 2009. "Does Reputation Contribute to Reducing Organizational Errors? A Learning Approach," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 676-703, June.
    10. Tina C Ambos & Ulf Andersson & Julian Birkinshaw, 2010. "What are the consequences of initiative-taking in multinational subsidiaries?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(7), pages 1099-1118, September.
    11. Peter Foreman & David A. Whetten, 2002. "Members' Identification with Multiple-Identity Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(6), pages 618-635, December.
    12. Claus Rerup, 2009. "Attentional Triangulation: Learning from Unexpected Rare Crises," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(5), pages 876-893, October.
    13. Sapienza, Harry J. & De Clercq, Dirk & Sandberg, William R., 2005. "Antecedents of international and domestic learning effort," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 437-457, July.
    14. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    15. Fernhaber, Stephanie A. & Li, Dan, 2013. "International exposure through network relationships: Implications for new venture internationalization," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 316-334.
    16. David A. Waldman & Donald S. Siegel & Mansour Javidan, 2006. "Components of CEO Transformational Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 1703-1725, December.
    17. Mair, Johanna & Martí, Ignasi, 2006. "Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 36-44, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robin Stevens & Nathalie Moray & Johan Bruneel, 2015. "The Social and Economic Mission of Social Enterprises: Dimensions, Measurement, Validation, and Relation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1051-1082, September.
    2. van den Oever, Koen, 2017. "Uncharted waters : A behavioral approach to when, why and which organizational changes are adopted," Other publications TiSEM 0136c8c2-ecdd-4f82-8ca7-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Zhe Zhang & Xin Wang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Echoes of CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation: How and When CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation Influences Dual CSR Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 609-629, April.
    4. Varshney, Mayank, 2023. "Learning-by-hiring: How do rival firms learn from focal firm's hiring," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    5. Donal Crilly & Pamela Sloan, 2014. "Autonomy or Control? Organizational Architecture and Corporate Attention to Stakeholders," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 339-355, April.
    6. Tomi Laamanen, 2019. "Dynamic attention-based view of corporate headquarters in MNCs," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Markku V. J. Maula & Thomas Keil & Shaker A. Zahra, 2013. "Top Management’s Attention to Discontinuous Technological Change: Corporate Venture Capital as an Alert Mechanism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 926-947, June.
    8. Andrews, Daniel S. & Fainshmidt, Stav & Ambos, Tina & Haensel, Kira, 2022. "The attention-based view and the multinational corporation: Review and research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2).
    9. Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. Mcmullen & William Ocasio, 2017. "Is that an opportunity? An attention model of top managers' opportunity beliefs for strategic action," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 626-644, March.
    10. Desmond (Ho-Fu) Lo & Francisco Brahm & Wouter Dessein & Chieko Minami, 2022. "Managing with Style? Microevidence on the Allocation of Managerial Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8261-8285, November.
    11. William Ocasio, 2011. "Attention to Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1286-1296, October.
    12. Christoph Grimpe & Wolfgang Sofka & Andreas P. Distel, 2022. "SME participation in research grant consortia—the emergence of coordinated attention in collaborative innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1567-1592, December.
    13. Luca Berchicci & Murat Tarakci, 2022. "Aspiration formation and attention rules," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 1575-1601, August.
    14. Srivastava, Smita & Sahaym, Arvin & Allison, Thomas H., 2021. "Alert and Awake: Role of alertness and attention on rate of new product introductions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    15. Wang, Xincheng & Li, Yuan & Tian, Longwei & Hou, Ye, 2023. "Government digital initiatives and firm digital innovation: Evidence from China," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    16. Jordi Surroca & Diego Prior & Josep A. Tribó Giné, 2016. "Using panel data dea to measure CEOs' focus of attention: An application to the study of cognitive group membership and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 370-388, February.
    17. Luke Rhee & William Ocasio & Tae-Hyun Kim, 2019. "Performance Feedback in Hierarchical Business Groups: The Cross-Level Effects of Cognitive Accessibility on R&D Search Behavior," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 51-69, February.
    18. Choi, Jaeho & Rhee, Mooweon & Kim, Young-Choon, 2019. "Performance feedback and problemistic search: The moderating effects of managerial and board outsiderness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 21-33.
    19. Pluchinotta, Irene & Salvia, Giuseppe & Zimmermann, Nici, 2022. "The importance of eliciting stakeholders’ system boundary perceptions for problem structuring and decision-making," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(1), pages 280-293.
    20. Sreejith Kumar Krishnakumar & Rajiv Kishore & Nallan C. Suresh, 2022. "Expansive or focused attention? An exploration–exploitation perspective on e‐Business systems and firm performance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(5), pages 2038-2066, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:36:y:2015:i:7:p:1006-1016. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.