IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v18y1997i3p187-206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived Managerial Discretion: A Study Of Cause And Effect

Author

Listed:
  • MASON A. CARPENTER
  • BRIAN R. GOLDEN

Abstract

The notion that managers encounter differing levels of discretion across industries and organizations is becoming central to discussions of strategy formulation and implementation. However, discretion can be exercised or created only to the extent it is perceived, and theories of cognition and decision making suggest that managers’ perceptions of discretion may vary significantly. Despite the importance of perceptions to Hambrick and Finkelstein’s (1987) theoretical model of managerial discretion, no empirical tests examining perceived discretion have been published to date. Drawing on theories of issue interpretation and impression management, we find that managers differ systematically in the amount of discretion they perceive. Specifically, we find support for the predicted relationship between locus of control, a stable personality difference, and perceptions of managerial discretion. We also find that perceived discretion predicts managerial power, but only in situations in which the manager actually has little discretion. The dynamic model presented and tested here suggests that managers, in part through impression management activities and their ability to attend to critical contingencies, may both increase their power and enlarge their latitude for action. Implications for strategy formulation and implementation are discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Mason A. Carpenter & Brian R. Golden, 1997. "Perceived Managerial Discretion: A Study Of Cause And Effect," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 187-206, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:18:y:1997:i:3:p:187-206
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199703)18:33.0.CO;2-U
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199703)18:33.0.CO;2-U
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199703)18:33.0.CO;2-U?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
    ---><---

    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:18:y:1997:i:3:p:187-206. 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.