Gänswein Effectiveness of Information Use for Strategic Decision Making

2011
ISBN: 978-3-8349-6849-4
Verlag: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Gabler
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 301 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: Entrepreneurship

In general, effective strategic decisions are associated with a step-by-step analysis of information. However, such recommendations are detached from the realities decision makers are faced with, i.e uncertainty of a decision problem, abundance of information from various sources, as well as political behavior and personal idiosyncracies in the decision making process. Wolfgang Gänswein examines the interaction of these factors by using a broad sample of 230 decisions in a broad range of industries.

Wolfgang Gänswein wrote this dissertation under Prof. Malte Brettel's supervision at the WIN chair of the RWTH Aachen.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gänswein, Wolfgang

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword ;6
2;Acknowledgements ;7
3;Overview of Contents;9
4;Table of Contents;11
5;List of Figures;15
6;List of Tables;16
7;List of Abbreviations XXI;20
8;1 Introduction;21
8.1;1.1 Problem statement;21
8.2;1.2 Research objective and questions;25
8.3;1.3 Research approach;31
8.4;1.4 Outline of this document;35
9;2 Conceptual basis;38
9.1;2.1 Literature review and basic terminology;38
9.1.1;2.1.1 Strategic decision making;38
9.1.1.1;2.1.1.1 Characteristics of strategic decisions;39
9.1.1.2;2.1.1.2 Process view of strategic decision making;40
9.1.2;2.1.2 Individual information behavior;46
9.1.2.1;2.1.2.1 Basic elements of information behavior;46
9.1.2.2;2.1.2.2 Information from an individual level perspective;50
9.1.2.3;2.1.2.3 Information use from an individual level perspective;53
9.1.2.4;2.1.2.4 Facets of information acquisition;54
9.1.2.4.1;2.1.2.4.1 Information sources;54
9.1.2.4.2;2.1.2.4.2 Modes of information acquisition;55
9.1.2.4.3;2.1.2.4.3 Characteristics describing information;56
9.1.2.5;2.1.2.5 Facets of information processing;57
9.1.2.5.1;2.1.2.5.1 Dual information processing;59
9.1.2.5.2;2.1.2.5.2 Cognitive functions: Perception, thought, knowledge learning and retrieval;61
9.2;2.2 Definition of research variables;64
9.2.1;2.2.1 Strategic decision making effectiveness;65
9.2.2;2.2.2 Strategic decision making process dimensions;67
9.2.2.1;2.2.2.1 Information use;67
9.2.2.2;2.2.2.2 Political behavior;70
9.2.3;2.2.3 Contextual factors;71
9.2.3.1;2.2.3.1 Perceived environmental uncertainty From a contingency perpective, organizations are influenced by their environments.;71
9.2.3.2;2.2.3.2 Cognitive style Individual differences in human cognition have been researched in many domains of organizational cogniti;72
9.3;2.3 Summary;77
9.3.1.1;Overall this chapter can be summarized as follows. First of all, strategic decisions are defined as;77
9.3.1.2;among alternative courses of actions. They are important in the sense, that they require substantial investment of resources, im;77
9.3.1.3;58 Conceptual basis;78
9.3.1.4;processes start with diagnosing a problem once it is recognized and end with the final choice among alternatives. In between act;78
9.3.1.5;terms of knowledge and information processing and the resulting need to acquire and process information for SDM. Secondly, polit;78
9.3.2;behaviors;78
9.3.2.1;and the;78
9.3.3;cognitive;78
9.3.3.1;information processing activities of the individual decision maker. As such information is distinguishable from data or messages;78
9.3.3.2;Summary 59 Then, information use;79
9.3.3.3;information in addressing strategic decisions. This definition differs from organizational level definitions, because the latter;79
9.3.3.4;The dependent variables are strategic decision quality and organizational performance, which are both measures of strategic deci;79
9.3.3.5;One group of independent variables is defined as;79
9.3.3.6;amount and scope of information use from personal and impersonal as well as internal and external information sources. These var;79
9.3.3.7;Another independent variable is political behavior;79
9.3.3.8;behaviors in pursuit of their personal interests during SDM. This variable captures the social context of SDM and has widely bee;79
9.3.3.9;The first contextual factor is defined as perceived environmental uncertainty comprised of environmental complexity and dynamism;79
9.3.3.10;The second contextual factor is defined as cognitive style from a dual-processing perspective on human cognitive processes. More;79
9.3.3.11;60 Conceptual basis These variables appear suitable for answering the research questions and result in the conceptual basis as d;80
9.3.3.12;Alternative theoretical perspectives and theories 61;81
10;3 Selection of a theoretical framework;81
10.1;3.1 Alternative theoretical perspectives and theories;81
10.1.1;3.1.1 Economic perspective and theories;81
10.1.2;3.1.2 Behavioral perspective and theories;84
10.1.3;3.1.3 Interpretive perspective and theories;87
10.2;3.2 Evaluation and selection of theoretical basis;93
10.3;3.3 The Upper Echelon View;98
10.3.1;3.3.1 Introduction;98
10.3.2;3.3.2 Main elements and theoretical statements;101
10.4;3.4 Summary;105
11;4 Theory and hypotheses development;109
11.1;4.1 Theoretical premises;110
11.2;4.2 Hypotheses development;116
11.2.1;4.2.1 Direct effects;116
11.2.2;4.2.2 Moderating effects of perceived environmental uncertainty;125
11.2.3;4.2.3 Moderating effects of cognitive style;130
11.2.4;4.2.4 Interaction effects of perceived environmental uncertainty and cognitive style;136
11.3;4.3 Summary;139
12;5 Research design;141
12.1;5.1 Unit of analysis;141
12.2;5.2 Operationalization of variables;143
12.2.1;5.2.1 Measurement basics and guiding principles;143
12.2.2;5.2.2 Measurement instrument;148
12.2.2.1;5.2.2.1 Information use The conceptual basis for information use comprises the dimensions amount and scope of information use fr;148
12.2.2.2;5.2.2.2 Political behavior;154
12.2.2.3;5.2.2.3 Perceived environmental uncertainty;155
12.2.2.4;5.2.2.4 Cognitive style;157
12.2.2.5;5.2.2.5 Strategic decision quality;158
12.3;5.3 Data analysis methodology;166
12.3.1;5.3.1 Basic methodological considerations;166
12.3.1.1;5.3.1.1 Statistical hypothesis testing Once operationalizations of latent variables are established and the data is collected, t;166
12.3.1.2;5.3.1.2 Structural equation modeling;167
12.3.1.3;5.3.1.3 Selection of partial least squares;169
12.3.2;5.3.2 Partial least squares;174
12.3.2.1;5.3.2.1 Basic functionality As outlined in the preceding section, partial least squares (PLS) is the appropriate SEM method for ;174
12.3.2.2;5.3.2.2 Measurement model evaluation;175
12.3.2.3;5.3.2.3 Structural model evaluation;179
12.3.2.4;5.3.2.4 Testing of causal relationships and significance level;180
12.3.2.5;5.3.2.5 Testing of moderating effects;182
13;6 Data collection and evaluation;184
13.1;6.1 Data collection;184
13.1.1;6.1.1 Survey design;184
13.1.2;6.1.2 Sample generation;188
13.2;6.2 Sample characteristics;190
13.2.1;6.2.1 Response rate and usable answers;190
13.2.2;6.2.2 Sample representativeness;192
13.2.3;6.2.3 Sample description;196
13.3;6.3 Evaluation and preparation of data basis;199
13.3.1;6.3.1 Biases;199
13.3.2;6.3.2 Missing values;201
14;7 Results;202
14.1;7.1 Results of direct effects model;202
14.1.1;7.1.1 Measurement model evaluation;202
14.1.2;7.1.2 Structural model evaluation;218
14.2;7.2 Results of moderating effects models;221
14.2.1;7.2.1 Perceived environmental uncertainty;222
14.2.2;7.2.2 Cognitive style;224
14.2.3;7.2.3 Interaction of perceived environmental uncertainty and cognitive style;227
14.3;7.3 Triangulation with financial performance variables;232
14.4;7.4 Test for control variable effects;234
14.5;7.5 Evaluation of hypotheses;237
15;8 Discussion and implications;240
15.1;8.1 Discussion of results;240
15.1.1;8.1.1 Effectiveness of information use Research question 1: Is information from different sources used with different effectiven;240
15.1.2;8.1.2 Effects of political behavior on information use;245
15.1.3;8.1.3 Effects of political behavior on strategic decision quality;246
15.1.4;8.1.4 Effects of strategic decision quality on organizational performance;248
15.2;8.2 Implications for research;250
15.2.1;8.2.1 Theoretical implications;250
15.2.2;8.2.2 Limitations and avenues of further research;254
15.3;8.3 Implications for practice;257
15.4;8.4 Summary;260
16;Appendix;264
16.1;Appendix 1: Questionnaire;264
16.2;Appendix 2: Partial models;273
16.3;Appendix 3: Partial models;280
17;References;287

Über Autor(innen)

Wolfgang Gänswein wrote this dissertation under Prof. Malte Brettel’s supervision at the WIN chair of the RWTH Aachen.