Sucheta Nadkarni

A causal mapping approach to constructing Bayesian networks

This paper describes a systematic procedure for constructing Bayesian networks (BNs) from domain knowledge of experts using the causal mapping approach. We outline how causal knowledge of experts can be represented as causal maps, and how the graphical structure of causal maps can be modified to construct Bayes nets. Probability encoding techniques can be used to assess the numerical parameters of the resulting Bayes nets. We illustrate the construction of a Bayes net starting from a causal map of a systems analyst in the context of an information technology application outsourcing decision.

A task-based model of perceived website complexity

In this study, we propose that perceived website complexity (PWC) is central to understanding how sophisticated features of a website (such as animation, audio, video, and rollover effects) affect a visitors experience at the site. Although previous research suggests that several elements of perceived complexity (e.g., amount of text, animation, graphics, range and consistency of web pages configuring a website, ease of navigating through it, and clarity of hyperlinks) affect important user outcomes, conflicting results yielded by previous research have created an important debate: does complexity enhance or inhibit user experience at a website. In this study, we draw on the task complexity literature to develop a broad and holistic model that examines the antecedents and consequences of PWC. Our results provide two important insights into the relationship between PWC and user outcomes. First, the positive relationship between objective complexity and PWC was moderated by user familiarity. Second, online task goals (goal-directed search and experiential browsing) moderated the relationship between PWC and user satisfaction. Specifically, the relationship between PWC and user satisfaction was negative for goal-directed users and inverted-U for experiential users. The implications of this finding for the practice of website design are discussed.

Understanding software operations support expertise: a revealed causal mapping approach

This paper utilizes a qualitative methodology, revealed causal mapping (RCM), to investigate the phenomenon of software operations support expertise. Software operations support is a large portion of the IS work performed in organizations. While we as researchers have access to generalized theories and frameworks of expertise, very little is known about expertise in this critical area. To understand software operations support expertise, a mid-range theory is evoked from interviews with experts and the construction of RCMs from those interviews. The results of this study indicate that software operation support expertise is comprised of five major constructs: personal competencies, environmental factors, support personnel motivation, IS policies, and support personnel outcomes. Additionally, this study revealed that these constructs interact differently in contexts where software support is the main activity versus contexts where the focus is development. This study demonstrates that the use of the RCM methodology yields constructs of software operations support expertise that are not suggested by generalized theory. In addition, the use of RCM as an evocative, qualitative methodology reveals the interaction and linkages between these constructs. This paper also provides a history of and tutorial to the RCM methodology for use by the research community.

The Evolution of Collective Strategy Frames in High-and Low-Velocity Industries

We argue that the collective assumptions of firms drive their actions and practices, and create the conditions of industry velocity. In our view, cognitive construction by firms is the primary driver of industry velocity. This is in contrast to the contingency views common in the literature, which hold that industry velocity plays a role by constraining and shaping firm strategies. Specifically, we suggest that firms develop unique assumptions, social networks, and feedback mechanisms; that these mechanisms perpetuate patterns of changes in collective beliefs and aggregate actions; and that these patterns in turn shape high-and low-velocity conditions. We examine these assertions by tracing the collective beliefs of three aircraft (low-velocity) and semiconductor (high-velocity) firms over a 20-year period (1977--1997). Our results suggest that the cognitive construction view of industry velocity is reasonable.

[Are we all on the same temporal page? The moderating effects of temporal team cognition on the polychronicity diversity–team performance relationship].

Integrating research on polychronicity, team diversity, and team cognition, we hypothesized that shared temporal cognition (overlapping knowledge) and temporal transactive memory systems (differentiated knowledge) would moderate the effects of polychronicity diversity on team performance. Results from 71 teams in an Indian organization revealed opposing moderating effects in that shared temporal cognition attenuated, but temporal transactive memory systems amplified, the negative effects of polychronicity diversity on team performance. Shared temporal cognition also exerted a strong, positive effect on team performance. Study results provide support for the continued examination of polychronicity diversity and temporal team cognition.

It’s about Time! CEOs’ Temporal Dispositions, Temporal Leadership, and Corporate Entrepreneurship

How CEOs think and feel about time may have a big influence on their firms’ strategies. We examine how two distinct CEO temporal dispositions—time urgency (the feeling of being chronically hurried) and pacing style (one’s pattern of effort over time in working toward deadlines)—each influence corporate entrepreneurship, a key strategic behavior. We propose that CEOs’ temporal leadership—how they manage the temporal aspects of top management teams’ activities—mediates the relationships between their temporal dispositions and corporate entrepreneurship—firms’ innovation, corporate venturing, and strategic renewal activities. Using a sample of 129 small and medium-sized Chinese firms, we find that CEOs’ time urgency is positively related to their temporal leadership, which in turn is positively related to corporate entrepreneurship. We also examine the effects of three distinct pacing styles: early-action, meaning the CEO exerts the most effort early in the task process and relaxes as the deadline nears; steady-action, meaning the CEO spreads out effort evenly across the time allotted; and deadline-action, meaning the CEO is most active as the deadline nears. We find that the deadline-action style inhibits CEOs’ temporal leadership, but the steady-action and early-action styles have similar effects on their temporal leadership. This study explicates the dispositional basis of executives’ subjective views of time, demonstrating how CEOs’ temporal dispositions shape firms’ behaviors.

Mindsets and Internationalization Success: An Exploratory Study of the British Retail Grocery Industry

Despite the growing pressures of internationalization, failures in international efforts are becoming increasingly widespread. Previous literature has developed external environmental and internal firm-specific explanations of international success, but has ignored the role of mindsets in understanding international failures. This gap is especially important because recent studies contend that the mindsets or the way top managers make sense of their global environment is central to international decision making and outcomes. We propose that mindsets are important in explaining international success. We compare the mindsets of two matched firms in the British retail grocery industry—one successful (Tesco) and another unsuccessful (Sainsbury)—from 1988 to 2003. Our results suggest systematic differences between the successful (Tesco) and the unsuccessful (Sainsbury) firm in two specific facets of mindsets—complexity and reactivity. These results, although exploratory, do highlight the importance of mindsets in the process of internationalization and raise interesting questions for future empirical examination.

Dispositional Sources of Managerial Discretion: CEO Ideology, CEO Personality, and Firm Strategies:

We investigate the dispositional sources of managerial discretion by theorizing that CEOs’ personality traits affect the extent to which their firms’ strategies reflect their preferences. In a longitudinal study of Fortune 500 firms, we examine the moderating influence of two personality traits—narcissism and extraversion—on the relationship between CEOs’ liberal- or conservative-leaning political ideologies and two firm strategies: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and workforce downsizing. We anticipate and confirm that liberal-leaning CEOs are more likely than others to enact CSR practices, and conservative-leaning CEOs are more likely than others to engage in downsizing. We find that extraversion strengthens these effects: it increases liberal CEOs’ use of CSR and conservative CEOs’ use of downsizing. Narcissism likewise strengthens the effect of CEO liberalism on CSR, but it does not significantly moderate the effect of CEO conservatism on downsizing. In a supplementary study using primary data from working professionals, we further explore the distinct mechanisms associated with these two personality traits. We find that narcissism relates strongly to individuals’ inflated perception of their discretion, whereas extraversion relates to their ability to sell an issue to others. Our study furthers research on managerial discretion by providing nuanced theory and evidence on innate sources of CEOs’ influence, and it enhances research on CEOs’ political ideology by spotlighting the dispositional boundary conditions of its effects on firms’ strategies.