Comparing Aspiration Models: The Role of Selective Attention

Journal of Management Studies

Volumn 49, Issue 5, 2012, Pages 896-917

  Washburn, Mark ^a   Bromiley, Philip ^b  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Aspirations; Behavioural theory; Search; Social comparison

Indexed keywords

EID: 84862548195     PISSN: 00222380     EISSN: 14676486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01033.x     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Audia, P. G. and Brion, S. (2007). 'Reluctant to change: self-enhancing responses to diverging performance measures'. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102, 255-69.
2. Audia, P. G. and Greve, H. R. (2006). 'Less likely to fail: low performance, firm size, and factory expansion in the shipbuilding industry'. Management Science, 52, 83-94.
3. Baum, J. C. and Dahlin, K. B. (2007). 'Aspiration performance and railroads' patterns of learning from train wrecks and crashes'. Organization Science, 18, 368-85.
4. Baum, J. C., Rowley, T. J., Shipilov, A. V. and Chuang, Y. T. (2005). 'Dancing with strangers: aspiration performance and the search for underwriting syndicate partners'. Administrative Sciences Quarterly, 50, 536-75.
5. Bromiley, P. (1986). Corporate Capital Investment: A Behavioral Approach. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
6. Bromiley, P. (1991). 'Testing a causal model of corporate risk taking and performance'. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 37-59.
7. Bromiley, P. (2004). The Behavioral Foundations of Strategic Management. Oxford: Blackwell.
8. Chen, W. and Miller, K. D. (2007). 'Situational and institutional determinants of firms' R&D search intensity'. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 369-81.
9. Crecine, J. P. (1969). Governmental Problem Solving: A Computer Simulation of Municipal Budgeting. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
10. Cyert, R. M. and March, J. G. (1963). A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
11. Deephouse, D. L. and Wiseman, R. M. (2000). 'Comparing alternative explanations for accounting risk-return explanations'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 42, 463-82.
12. Denrell, J. and March, J. (2001). 'Adaptation as information restriction: the hot stove effect'. Organization Science, 12, 523-38.
13. Dow, G. (1990). 'The organization as an adaptive network'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 14, 159-85.
14. Eliasson, G. (1976). Business Economic Planning. London: Wiley.
15. Fiegenbaum, A. (1990). 'Prospect theory and the risk-return association: an empirical examination in 85 industries'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 14, 187-203.
16. Fiegenbaum, A. and Thomas, H. (1986). 'Dynamic and risk measurement perspectives on Bowman's risk-return paradox for strategic management: an empirical study'. Strategic Management Journal, 7, 395-407.
17. Fiegenbaum, A. and Thomas, H. (1988). 'Attitudes toward risk and the risk-return paradox: prospect theory explanations'. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 85-106.
18. Fiegenbaum, A. and Thomas, H. (1995). 'Strategic groups as reference groups: theory, modeling and empirical examination of industry and competitive strategy'. Strategic Management Journal, 16, 461-76.
19. Gooding, R. Z., Goel, S. and Wiseman, R. M. (1996). 'Fixed versus variable reference points in the risk-return relationship'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 29, 331-50.
20. Greene, W. H. (2008). Econometric Analysis, 6th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
21. Greve, H. R. (1998). 'Performance, aspirations and risky organizational change'. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 58-86.
22. Greve, H. R. (2003a). 'A behavioral theory of R&D expenditures and innovations: evidence from shipbuilding'. Academy of Management Journal, 46, 685-702.
23. Greve, H. (2003b). 'Investment and the behavioral theory of the firm: evidence from shipbuilding'. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12, 1051-76.
24. Greve, H. R. (2008). 'A behavioral theory of firm growth: sequential attention to size and performance goals'. Academy of Management Journal, 51, 476-94.
25. Harris, J. and Bromiley, P. (2007). 'Incentives to cheat: the influence of executive compensation and firm performance on financial misrepresentations'. Organization Science, 18, 350-67.
26. Harris, D. and Helfat, C. (1997). 'Specificity of CEO human capital and compensation'. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 895-920.
27. Iyer, D. N. and Miller, K. D. (2008). 'Performance feedback, slack, and the timing of acquisitions'. Academy of Management Journal, 51, 808-22.
28. Lant, T. (1992). 'Aspiration level adaptation and empirical exploration'. Management Science, 38, 623-44.
29. Lant, T. and Shapira, Z. (2008). 'Managerial reasoning about aspirations and expectations'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 66, 60-73.
30. March, J. G. and Shapira, Z. (1987). 'Managerial perspectives on risk and risk taking'. Management Science, 33, 1404-18.
31. March, J. G. and Simon, H. (1958). Organizations. New York: Wiley.
32. Mezias, S. J. (1988). 'Aspiration level effects: an empirical investigation'. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 10, 389-400.
33. Mezias, S. J., Chen, Y.-R. and Murphy, P. R. (2002). 'Aspiration-level adaptation in an American financial services organization: a field study'. Management Science, 48, 1285-300.
34. Miller, K. D. and Chen, W. (2004). 'Variable organizational risk preferences: tests of the March-Shapira model'. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 105-15.
35. Miller, K. D. and Leiblein, M. J. (1996). 'Corporate risk-return relations: returns variability versus downside risk'. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 91-122.
36. Ocasio, W. (1997). 'Towards an attention-based view of the firm'. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 187-206.
37. Palmer, T. B. and Wiseman, R. M. (1999). 'Decoupling risk taking from income stream uncertainty: a holistic model of risk'. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 1037-62.
38. Rhee, M. (2009). 'Does reputation contribute to reducing organizational errors? A learning approach'. Journal of Management Studies, 46, 676-703.
39. Simon, H. A. (1991). Models of My Life. New York: Basic Books.
40. Simon, H. A. (1997). An Empirically Based Microeconomics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41. Singh, J. (1986). 'Performance, slack, and risk taking in organizational decision making'. Academy of Management Journal, 29, 562-85.
42. Stata (2007). Longitudinal/Panel Data, Reference Manual. Release10. College Station, TX: Stata Press. Available at: (accessed 3 January 2007).
43. Wiklund, J. and Shepherd, D. (2003). 'Aspiring for, and achieving growth: the moderating role of resources and opportunities'. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1919-41.
44. Wiseman, R. M. and Bromiley, P. (1996). 'Toward a model of risk in declining organizations: an empirical examination of risk, performance and decline'. Organization Science, 7, 524-43.
45. Wiseman, R. M. and Catanach, A. H. (1997). 'A longitudinal disaggregation of operational risk under changing regulations: evidence from the savings and loan industry'. Academy of Management Journal, 404, 799-830.