Christopher L. Shook

The Dimensionality of Organizational Performance and its Implications for Strategic Management Research

Organizational performance is widely recognized as an important – if not the most important – construct in strategic management research. Researchers also agree that organizational performance is a multidimensional construct. However, the research implications of the constructs multidimensionality are less understood. In this chapter, we use a synthesis of previous attempts to describe the dimensions of performance and our own analysis of performance measurement in the Strategic Management Journal to build a conceptual model of organizational performance and its dimensions. Our model suggests that operational performance and organizational performance are distinct, and that organizational performance can be further dimensionalized into accounting returns, stock market, and growth measures. The model has implications for how future research might advance understanding about performance and how empirical studies should conceptualize and measure performance.

Antecedents and Consequences of Franchising: Past Accomplishments and Future Challenges

Franchising is a popular and multifaceted business arrangement that has attracted considerable research attention. Past inquiry has focused on franchising’s antecedents, consequences, and factors that moderate these relationships. The authors review recent progress within franchising research and identify gaps in the literature. They also describe how researchers could build greater knowledge about franchising by further leveraging various organizational theories and by drawing from a number of business and social science fields whose insights have not yet significantly influenced franchising research.

The Past, Present, and Future of Entrepreneurship Research: Data Analytic Trends and Training

Competent data analysis is essential to entrepreneurship research and to the disciplines progression. A three–study design was used to evaluate quantitative analytic trends and the adequacy of entrepreneurship doctoral training. First, trends were identified by assessing hypothesis–testing techniques in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and the Journal of Business Venturing. Second, top entrepreneurship scholars were surveyed regarding the importance of various quantitative analytical techniques to future research and their expectations regarding doctoral training. Third, newly minted entrepreneurship PhDs were queried regarding their perceived competence with these same techniques. These studies provide a past, present, and future perspective on data analysis techniques and competencies in entrepreneurship.

Towards a “theoretical toolbox” for strategic sourcing

Purpose – The goal of this paper is to provide a broad foundation for future research in the area of strategic sourcing.Design/methodology/approach – The foundation is derived by drawing from various well‐established organizational theories. Specifically, strategic sourcing was viewed from the perspective of institutional theory, resource dependence theory, network theory, systems theory, resource/knowledge‐based views of the firm, transaction cost economics, agency theory, strategic choice theory, sociocognitive theory, and critical theory.Findings – By viewing strategic sourcing through the lens of ten organizational theories, this research provides multiple insights into many interrelated strategic sourcing questions, such as when to make, buy or ally, how many and which suppliers, and how to manage sourcing relationships. The paper offers a rich and diverse foundation to foster future theory‐building activities in sourcing and supply management research.Originality/value – While some of these theory b...

Are We There Yet? An Assessment of Research Design and Construct Measurement Practices in Entrepreneurship Research

Research design is a central element of empirical research, and thus, an important consideration for entrepreneurship researchers and anyone interested in entrepreneurship-related research findings. Yet, many years have past since the last thorough review of research design and construct measurement practices. Thus, it is unknown whether there is a gap between what is currently being done versus what needs to be done. In this article, authors use a two-study approach involving a content analysis of published empirical research and a survey of experts within the field to assess the current state of practices. Their findings indicate that, in general, research design and construct measurement practices continue to improve; however, there are some issues that still need to be resolved. Authors lay out key implications and provide several suggestions to help resolve these issues.

The Presence of Equivalent Models in Strategic Management Research Using Structural Equation Modeling: Assessing and Addressing the Problem

The use of structural-equation modeling (SEM) in strategic-management research has grown dramatically during recent years. Although this statistical technique offers researchers a valuable tool for testing hypothesized models, certain challenges accompany the use of SEM. The current article examines one of these challenges, equivalent models, and its prevalence in strategy research. An equivalent model is an alternative model that fits the data equally well, thus producing the same covariance or correlation matrix but often differing significantly in theoretical interpretation. We examined the application of SEM in 109 strategic-management studies and found that equivalent models are a cause for concern in most strategic-management studies. Using a published article, we also provide a statistical demonstration of the potential effect of equivalent models. This article highlights both the extent of potential equivalent models in strategy research and the possible effect of such models on strategic-management theory.

Of Scapegoats and Signals Investor Reactions to CEO Succession in the Aftermath of Wrongdoing

If an organization’s management is caught in the act of misconduct, it may call for a changing of the guard. Surprisingly, though, there is little empirical evidence examining the presumed benefits of executive turnover in the aftermath of wrongdoing. In this study, we explore investor reactions to CEO turnover following financial misrepresentation. We theorize and find that firms can be successful at managing investor reactions to organizational misconduct by either scapegoating or signaling change, but middle-ground approaches that do not commit to one or the other are less successful. We test our ideas in a firm-level event study of market reactions to CEO successions following a material financial statement restatement. We discuss the results, which generally support our predictions, and their implications for development of the scapegoating and signaling literatures and research on both executive succession and restoring corrupt organizations.

Entrepreneur political skill and new venture performance: Extending the social competence perspective

Research on the social competence perspective holds that since operating high performing new ventures is dependent on entrepreneurs’ ability to influence stakeholder actions, entrepreneur social competence is likely critically important to new venture performance. Using a sample of 163 entrepreneurs throughout the USA, we extend such research by examining the entrepreneur political skill new venture performance relationship. Our results suggest that political skill, which is the component of social competence which specifically assesses an individuals ability to influence others actions within the business environment, is positively associated with new venture performance. Study results provide additional support for the social competence perspective.

Book Review: Ketchen, D. J., & Bergh, D. D. (Eds.). (2004). Research methodology in strategy and management, Vol. 1. Oxford, UK: Elsevier

This book represents a debut volume in a planned series on research methodology in strategic management. According to the editors (p. ix), the “series’ mission is to provide a forum for critique, commentary, and discussion about key research methodology issues in the strategic management field,” and seeks “to bridge the gap between what researchers know and what they need to know about methodology” by providing “wisdom, insight and guidance from some of the best methodologists inside and outside the strategic management field.” Given that strategic management methods usage is trending toward more complex data-analytic techniques, but few methodological resources are targeted to strategic management researchers, this book series appears to be quite timely. The book is composed of 12 very diverse chapters authored by well-respected researchers primarily from within the discipline. The first chapter, authored by Hitt, Boyd, and Li, is an overview of the state of strategic management research along with suggestions for the future. The second chapter, authored by Venkatraman and Tranriverdi, discusses the measurement and methodological issues involved in the knowledge-based view of strategy. Zaheer and Usai authored the third chapter, which discusses the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with the social network approach in strategy research. Authored by Bowen and Wiersema, the fourth chapter discusses methods and guidelines for modeling limited dependent variables. The fifth chapter, authored by Greve and Goldeng, describes the theoretical motivation for longitudinal methods, outlines some common longitudinal methods, and reports on the quality of the application of longitudinal analyses in recently published strategy research. Pamela Barr authored the sixth chapter, which champions the uses of qualitative methods in strategy research. The seventh chapter was authored by Priem, Ndofor, and Voges, and describes and provides an example of the use of metric conjoint analysis to map strategic thinking. Slater and Atuahene-Gima authored the eighth chapter in which they describe the threats to internal validity associated with survey data. In the ninth chapter, Robins discussed when the age of data really matters and argues that better research design may be more effective than newer data sets. Carlson and Hatfield authored the 10th chapter, which offers the Cumulative Knowledge Perspective as a means for assessing research progress in strategic management. The 11th chapter, authored by Williams, Gavin, and Hartman, provides strategy researchers with guidance on applying structural equation modeling in their research. The final chapter, authored by Bergh et al., reported the results of an evaluation of the frequency of threats to internal validity in recent strategy research. The diversity of the chapters is both a strength and a weakness of this volume. Because of the diversity of topics, the probability is quite high that every strategic management researcher will find something of interest in this volume. However, because the chapters are so diverse, some researchers, who specialize in certain approaches or methodologies, may find relatively few chapters of interest. Furthermore, because a topical ordering of the chapters is not apparent to the reader, an argument might be made that the volume could have