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Strategic Management Journal Vol. 34 No. 6 2013

Toward a theory of intraorganizational attention based on desirability and feasibility factors

Ilídio Barreto; David Patient

Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics Universidade Católica Portuguesa Lisbon Portugal

Abstract

Why would managers in the same firm differ in their attention to opportunity versus threat aspects of the same exogenous shock? Drawing on the attention‐based view, strategic issue diagnosis theory, and construal level theory, we propose and test a theoretical model of differentiated attention among managers within a firm driven by desirability (shock distance) and feasibility (capability perception) considerations. Managers more distant from the locus of the shock and managers with stronger ex ante perceptions regarding organizational capabilities to address the shock paid more attention to opportunity aspects and less attention to threat aspects. We also found subordination effects between shock distance and capability perception, and a moderating role of domain‐specific experience on the effects of capability perception.

DOI
10.1002/smj.2029
Volume
34
Issue
6
Pages
687-703
Language
en
Sources
openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

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