2015 - Reprints: Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
Knowing when to acquire: The case of multinational technology firms, International Business Review, 24(1), 1-10, 2015.
N.N. Brueller, S. Ellis, E. Segev and A. Carmeli
(Reprint No. 304)
Research no.: 00840100
This study examines the effects of timing in high-tech acquisitions by analyzing how deviation from routines affects the value captured by the acquirer as well as the price paid. It examines the context of information and communication technology (ICT) acquisitions in which multinational technology incumbents are known to habitually acquire product-related capabilities to facilitate their entry into new product domains. The paper highlights the role of routines in managing technology acquisitions of multinationals, and tests the hypothesis that smaller deviations in terms of target-maturity and acquisition-timing lead to superior outcomes for acquirers. The findings indicate positive relationships between stricter iterations of routines and superior outcomes. The discussion centers on the theoretical implications of acquisition routines, timing and performance of multinational technology companies.
Follow your heart or your head? A longitudinal study of the facilitating role of calling and ability in the pursuit of a challenging career, Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 695-712, 2015.
S. Dobrow Riza and D. Heller
(Reprint No. 305)
While making early career decisions in which pursuing what one loves and earning a secure living are at odds with one another, when and why will the intrinsic considerations prevail over the extrinsic considerations? We posit that a key factor in resolving this dilemma in favor of the intrinsic side of the career is the sense of calling, a consuming, meaningful passion people experience toward the domain. We test the connection between early callings (in adolescence) and later career pursuit (in adulthood) and the mediating role of perceived and actual abilities (in young adulthood) in a career context in which the intrinsic and extrinsic sides of a career can clash: the path to become a professional musician. In an 11-year 5-wave longitudinal study of 450 amateur high school musicians progressing from adolescence to adulthood, we found that regardless of their actual musical ability, people with stronger early callings were likely to perceive their abilities more favorably, which led them to pursue music professionally. Our findings thus indicate an intriguing pattern in which the experience of stronger early callings led to greater perceived ability that was not reflected in greater actual ability. Perceived ability, rather than objective ability as assessed by awards won in music competitions, led to subsequent career pursuit. We discuss implications for theory and research on the nature and consequences of calling, as well as for career decision making, both in general and in challenging career contexts in particular.
The commerce and crossover of resources: Resource conservation in the service of resilience, Stress and Health, 31, 95-105, 2015.
S. Chen, M. Westman and S.E. Hobfoll
(Reprint No. 310)
Conservation of resources (COR) theory was originally introduced as a framework for understanding and predicting the consequences of major and traumatic stress, but following the work of Hobfoll and Shirom (1993), COR theory has been adopted to understanding and predicting work-related stress and both the stress and resilience that occur within work settings and work culture. COR theory underscores the critical role of resource possession, lack, loss and gain and depicts personal, social and material resources co-travelling in resource caravans, rather than piecemeal. We briefly review the principles of COR theory and integrate it in the crossover model, which provides a key mechanism for multi-person exchange of emotions, experiences and resources. Understanding the impact of resource reservoirs, resource passageways and crossover provides a framework for research and intervention promoting resilience to employees as well as to organizations. It emphasizes that the creation and maintenance of resource caravan passageways promote resource gain climates through resource crossover processes.
Respite redux. In R. Burke, C. Cooper & S. Fox (Eds), Human Frailties: Wrong Choices on the Drive to Success (pp. 243-359). Farnham, Surrey, UK: Gower, 2013.
D. Eden and M. Westman
(Reprint No. 312)
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Learning disability and leadership: Becoming an effective leader, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(6), 747-761, 2014.
G. Luria, Y. Kalish and M. Weinstein
(Reprint No. 309)
This study investigates learning disability (LD) as an individual-differences variable predicting leadership emergence, role occupancy, and effectiveness.We hypothesize that individuals with LD are less likely to occupy leadership roles, and that informal group processes (leadership emergence) will mediate the relationship between LD and leadership role occupancy. We also hypothesized that, among leaders promoted and selected for leadership training, there would be a negative relationship between LD and effective leadership.We first checked for LD in a sample of 1076 soldiers, measuring cognitive ability with a geometric-analogies test as a control. Some months later, during the soldiers’ basic training, we measured leadership emergence. We then identified those who were selected for leadership training, recording, and measuring their effectiveness according to supervisory and peer evaluations. Leadership emergence was found to mediate the negative relationship between LD and leadership role occupancy. There were no significant differences among leaders (n = 308) with and without LD in regard to leadership effectiveness.
Exploration-exploitation dilemmas of venture capital funds: The role of organisational slack and horizons, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 6(3), 220-241, 2014.
S. Ellis, T. Sagiv and I. Drori
(Reprint No. 314)
This paper analyses the investment decisions of venture capitalists (VCs). Drawing on March’s conceptual exploration-exploitation framework, we examine whether organisational slack and organisational horizons can predict exploration and exploitation behaviours. Using data on VC funds that operated in Israel between 1990 and 2004, we explore two central VCs’ dilemmas: the first, whether to invest in startups at their seed stage, and the second – when to opt for an exit. We found that whereas organisational slack and time horizons predicted explorative performance, exploitation was found as more dependent on situational factors and more strongly associated with investors’ pressure. The findings are discussed in terms of the limited ability of top management teams to maintain an optimal balance between exploration and exploitation in organisations in general, and in VC funds in particular.
