Constrained Growth: How Experience, Legitimacy, and Age Influence Risk Taking in Organizations
Constrained Growth: How Experience, Legitimacy, and Age Influence Risk Taking in Organizations
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DOI：
10.1287/orsc.1070.0335
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发表时间：
2008-07
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
V. Desai
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作者：
V. Desai
业绩不佳表明组织的日常工作不太适合其环境，并促使决策者寻找解决方案。然而，关于这个搜索过程如何影响组织中的风险承担，结果是冲突的。在一些面临实际或预期绩效不足的组织中，管理者倾向于冒险，而在其他绩效不佳的组织中，管理者则避免冒险的变革。这种冲突很有趣，因为某种程度的风险承担对于组织保持竞争力、适应环境和提高绩效是必要的。本研究考察了绩效不足后适度风险承担的几种机制。首先，我从组织学习理论中得出结论，认为运营经验有限的组织对失败的缓冲较少，因此，这些组织的不良绩效限制了风险承担。其次，我认为合法性较差的组织也较少缓冲，因此绩效不足也导致这些组织的风险厌恶。第三，我从结构惯性理论中得出结论，较老的组织在业绩不足后支持冒险的能力较差。对这些假设对美国铁路公司产能扩张行为的检验总体上支持这些假设，尽管年龄的影响较弱。这些发现有助于组织学习理论和更广泛的组织理论的几个观点。
Poor performance indicates that an organization's routines are not well suited for its environment and prompts decision makers to search for solutions. However, results conflict regarding how this search process influences risk taking in organizations. Managers in some organizations facing actual or expected performance shortfalls tend to take risks, while managers in other poorly performing organizations avoid risky changes. This conflict is interesting because some level of risk taking appears necessary for organizations to remain competitive, adapt to their environment, and improve performance. This study examines several mechanisms that moderate risk taking following performance shortfalls. First, I draw from organizational learning theories to argue that organizations with limited operating experience are less buffered from failure, and hence that poor performance constrains risk taking at these organizations. Second, I argue that organizations with poor legitimacy are also less buffered, and hence that performance shortfalls also lead to risk aversion at these organizations. Third, I draw from structural inertia theory to suggest that older organizations are less able to support risk taking following performance shortfalls. A test of these hypotheses on the capacity expansion behavior of U.S. railroad companies generally supports these hypotheses, although the effect of age is weaker. The findings contribute to theories of organizational learning and to several perspectives in organization theory more broadly.