Performance Feedback and Middle Managers’ Divergent Strategic Behavior: The Roles of Social Comparisons and Organizational Identification

Murat Tarakci; NY (Nufer) Ates; S Floyd; Y Ahn; B Wooldridge

doi:10.1002/smj.2745

Performance Feedback and Middle Managers’ Divergent Strategic Behavior: The Roles of Social Comparisons and Organizational Identification

Murat Tarakci, NY (Nufer) Ates, S Floyd, Y Ahn, B Wooldridge

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

84 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

What drives middle managers to search for new strategic initiatives and champion them to top management? This behavior—labeled divergent strategic behavior—spawns emergent strategies and thereby provides one of the essential ingredients of strategic renewal. We conceptualize divergent strategic behavior as a response to performance feedback. Data from 123 senior middle managers overseeing 21 multi-country organizations (MCOs) of a Fortune 500 firm point to social performance comparisons rather than historical comparisons in driving divergent strategic behavior. Moreover, managers’ organizational identification affects whether they attend to organizational- or individual-level feedback. These results contribute to research on performance aspirations and strategy process by providing a multilevel, multidimensional framework of performance aspirations in middle management driven strategic renewal.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1139-1162
Number of pages	24
Journal	Strategic Management Journal
Volume	39
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2745
Publication status	Published - Apr 2018

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title = "Performance Feedback and Middle Managers{\textquoteright} Divergent Strategic Behavior: The Roles of Social Comparisons and Organizational Identification",

abstract = "What drives middle managers to search for new strategic initiatives and champion them to top management? This behavior—labeled divergent strategic behavior—spawns emergent strategies and thereby provides one of the essential ingredients of strategic renewal. We conceptualize divergent strategic behavior as a response to performance feedback. Data from 123 senior middle managers overseeing 21 multi-country organizations (MCOs) of a Fortune 500 firm point to social performance comparisons rather than historical comparisons in driving divergent strategic behavior. Moreover, managers{\textquoteright} organizational identification affects whether they attend to organizational- or individual-level feedback. These results contribute to research on performance aspirations and strategy process by providing a multilevel, multidimensional framework of performance aspirations in middle management driven strategic renewal.",

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AU - Wooldridge, B

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Performance Feedback and Middle Managers’ Divergent Strategic Behavior: The Roles of Social Comparisons and Organizational Identification

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