IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v12y1991i3p219-229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self‐serving attributions, managerial cognition, and company performance

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen E. Clapham
  • Charles R. Schwenk

Abstract

Past research using managers' attributions for good and poor performance in annual reports has repeatedly demonstrated that management takes credit for good outcomes. However, there is disagreement about whether this pattern of attributions reflects attempts to manage impressions in stakeholders or biased perceptions on the part of management, and whether it is associated with increases or decreases in future performance. In this study, attributions in letters to shareholders in the annual reports of public utilities were analyzed. The results showed the same general pattern of attributions as was found in previous studies. However, the relationship between this pattern of attributions and performance (earnings per share growth) was generally negative. Implications of these results for future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen E. Clapham & Charles R. Schwenk, 1991. "Self‐serving attributions, managerial cognition, and company performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 219-229, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:12:y:1991:i:3:p:219-229
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.4250120305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250120305
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/smj.4250120305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Skarlicki, Daniel & Lo, Kin & Rogo, Rafael & Avolio, Bruce J. & DeHaas, CodieAnn, 2023. "The role of CEO accounts and perceived integrity in analysts’ forecasts," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Yi-Ching Hsieh & Hung-Chang Chiu & Yun-Chia Tang & Wei-Yun Lin, 2018. "Does Raising Value Co-creation Increase All Customers’ Happiness?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1053-1067, November.
    3. Srivastava, Smita & Sahaym, Arvin & Allison, Thomas H., 2021. "Alert and Awake: Role of alertness and attention on rate of new product introductions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    4. M. Fernanda Wagstaff & Gabriela L. Flores & Albert Cannella & Sayan Sarkar & Christine Choirat, 2021. "Construct Validity of Unobtrusive Measures of Organizational Ethical Climates," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 158-177, August.
    5. Vieira, F.M.C. & Bisch, P.M., 1993. "Oscillatory patterns in an autocatalytic reaction ring network simulated by a probabilistic cellular automaton," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 199(1), pages 40-54.
    6. Buyl, Tine & Boone, Christophe & Wade, James B., 2015. "Non-CEO executive mobility: The impact of poor firm performance and TMT attention," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 257-267.
    7. Xiaode Ji & Yanzhao Su & Yue Zhang & Hui Wang, 2023. "Making Our Firm More Sustainable: The Role of CEO Vision Communication of Sustainability on Sustainability Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    8. David Schmid & Finn de Thomas Wagner & Dirk Morschett, 2021. "Archetypes of Driver Combinations Leading to Foreign Market Exit: An Investigation into European Grocery Retailing," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 521-562, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:12:y:1991:i:3:p:219-229. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.