Cognitive Diversity among Upper-Echelon Executives: Implications for Strategic Decision Processes

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 comprehensivene...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Strategic management journal 1998-01, Vol.19 (1), p.39-58
Main Authors: Miller, C. Chet, Burke, Linda M., Glick, William H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brainstorming
Business executives
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive models
Corporate strategies
Decision making
Demography
Differences
executive diversity
Executives
Hypotheses
Impact analysis
Influence
Long term planning
Management science
Questionnaires
Regression analysis
Researchers
strategic decision‐making
Strategic management
Strategic planning
Studies
Turbulence
Turbulence models
Variables
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0143-2095
1097-0266
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199801)19:1<39::AID-SMJ932>3.0.CO;2-A