Allison W. Pearson

Understanding the Dynamics of New Venture Top Management Teams: Cohesion, Conflict, and New Venture Performance

The success of a new venture usually depends upon whether team members can amalgamate effectively without losing their creative diversity. The use of conflict is central to this effort to combine talent and ability into an integrated whole. Although conflict can cause animosity and resentment, it can also be a catalyst for creative thinking and understanding. Effective teams utilize the benefits of conflict while avoiding its potential negative impact. The effects of cohesion on cognitive and affective conflict were examined. Data were gathered via surveys from the top management teams (TMTs) of 70 new ventures which were members of the 1995 Inc. 500, including 192 managers. Cohesion, conflict, firm performance, and profitability were measured. Findings indicated that TMT cohesion was negatively related to affective conflict and positively related to cognitive conflict. TMT cohesion is positively related to new venture growth. (SFL)

Family Involvement, Family Influence, and Family‐Centered Non‐Economic Goals in Small Firms

Using behavioral and stakeholder theories, we suggest that family firms may have family–centered non–economic goals and that these goals could influence firm behaviors. This study extends the literature by hypothesizing that the essence of family influence partially mediates the relationship between family involvement and family firms’ adoption of family–centered non–economic goals. The results using 1,060 small firms support the hypotheses. Aside from contributing to family business theory by explaining and testing mediating variables as sources of goal heterogeneity among family firms, our findings also imply that the involvement and essence approaches to defining family businesses may be hierarchically reconciled.

Perceived security and World Wide Web purchase intention

While Web‐based consumer activity is poised on the brink of dramatic growth, concerns about security have the potential to limit this growth by arousing shopper’s concerns about the Web‐based channel. One key aspect to consumer participation in Web commerce may be the extent to which they perceive risk to their sensitive information. This study describes the creation of a scale to measure perceived Web security. We apply the scale in a causal model to investigate the relative impact of beliefs about Web shopping on intent to purchase products using the World Wide Web. Data from two samples is used to develop the scale and to perform the causal analysis. Our findings indicate the favorable psychometric properties of the scale, and the causal analysis from our sample indicates that security is a greater influence on intent to purchase using the Web than is the ease and utility of purchasing products.

An Exploratory Study of Family Member Characteristics and Involvement: Effects on Entrepreneurial Behavior in the Family Firm

Family firms are essential for economic growth and development through new business startups and growth of existing family firms. Entrepreneurial behavior by the CEO is essential for such growth to occur. Entrepreneurial behavior can be influenced by inherent characteristics of the CEO, such as age and tenure, as well as by the degree of family influence in the firm, as indicated by the number of generations involved in the business. We assess the empirical relationships of these variables to both entrepreneurial behavior and subsequent firm growth.

An Exploratory Comparison of the Behavioral Dynamics of Top Management Teams in Family and Nonfamily New Ventures: Cohesion, Conflict, Potency, and Consensus

While some researchers propose that the combination of family and business creates a need for trade–offs in family and business demands, we argue that the social system of the family creates a synergy in the top management team (TMT) that is not present in TMTs with less “familiness.” We argue that the unique dynamics created by the social aspects of the family–owned firm will result in higher cohesion, potency, task conflict, and shared strategic consensus than those TMTs with less “familiness.” Discriminant analysis of three groups of TMTs (parental, familial, and nonfamily) was conducted on a sample of 224 TMTs of new ventures to explore our propositions.

Top management team process, shared leadership, and new venture performance: a theoretical model and research agenda

Abstract In this paper, we take a behavioral integration perspective [Strategy Leadersh. 25 (1997) 24] in articulating the process through which new venture performance may be explained. In so doing, we integrate concepts from entrepreneurship, top management teams (TMT), group process, and leadership research and propose an input–process–output model for examining new venture TMT (NVTMT) and new venture performance. More specifically, shared leadership is conceptualized as an important antecedent of our process variables—cohesion and collective vision—which in turn are conceptualized as being positively and reciprocally related and important antecedents of new venture performance. Our model also proposes several moderators that may change the relationships in the model.

Perceived Cohesion in Small Groups Adapting and Testing the Perceived Cohesion Scale in a Small-Group Setting

The six-item Perceived Cohesion Scale (PCS) was created to measure perceived cohesion in groups. However, only large groups were used to assess the validity and reliability of the measure, leaving in question the use of the PCS with small groups. This study adapts the measure of cohesion to the small-group arena. Results provide support for the validity and reliability of the adapted measure for use within the small group.

Charting the Future of Family Business Research: Perspectives From the Field

The authors provide insights concerning the current state of family business research through a survey that included input from more than 80 family business scholars. Findings suggest two general conclusions: first, a collective sense that significant progress has been made; second, a widespread conviction there is still much work to be done. The authors conclude with several recommendations for the field’s continued evolution, which include greater use of family sciences research, the development of innovative measures, the adoption of rich longitudinal methodologies, and inclusion of more diverse subjects and samples.

New Venture and Family Business Teams: Understanding Team Formation, Composition, Behaviors, and Performance

New ventures are frequently started by entrepreneurial teams rather than lone entrepreneurs. Often, team members have family ties. Yet, there has been relatively little research on new venture and family business teams. The papers in this special issue address this gap by studying team formation and composition, faultlines among team members, generational involvement in teams, the influence of shared organizational experience and functional homogeneity, and the likelihood of couples, biologically related, and unrelated teams achieving first sales. Combined, they suggest that relationships are more important than skill diversity in determining the effectiveness of both family business and new venture teams.

Prior Occupational Experience, Anticipatory Socialization, and Employee Retention

Research on organizational socialization processes has not firmly established the relationships among prior work experience, preentry variables, and postentry attitudes and behavior. Using a longitudinal sample of 218 newcomers, a survival model was developed to test whether the relationship between prior occupational experience and retention is mediated by such preentry variables as person-job (P-J) fit, value congruence, and organizational expectations. Results indicate that prior occupational work experience significantly affects retention in the short run, and this relationship is mediated by preentry P-J fit and value congruence.