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Cognitive diversity among upper‐echelon executives: implications for strategic decision processes
Author(s) -
Miller C. Chet,
Burke Linda M.,
Glick William H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(199801)19:1<39::aid-smj932>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , strategic planning , upper echelons , business , empirical research , executive summary , cognition , strategic management , marketing , linkage (software) , industrial organization , psychology , political science , finance , neuroscience , law , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , epistemology , gene
Diversity among executives is widely assumed to influence a firm's strategic decision processes, but empirical research on this linkage has been virtually nonexistent. To partially fill the void, we drew upon three separate studies to examine the impact of executive diversity on comprehensiveness of strategic decision‐making and extensiveness of strategic planning. Contrary to common assumptions of researchers and executives, our results suggest that executive diversity inhibits rather than promotes comprehensive examinations of current opportunities and threats, and inhibits rather than promotes extensive long‐range planning. In light of the cumulative research showing that firm performance is related to both comprehensiveness and extensiveness, our results provide evidence for an indirect connection between executive diversity and firm performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.