 Changing of the Guard: the Influence of CEO Socialization on Strategic ChangeNanette Fondas and Margarethe Wiersema Journal of Management Studies, 1997, vol. 34, issue 4, 561-584 Abstract: This paper utilizes socialization theory to describe why some chief executive successions lead to a change in a firm's strategic direction and others do not. We argue that socialization theory permits the identification of a constellation of individual and situational characteristics that can drive or restrain strategic change following succession. Specifically, we develop a framework of how differences in chief executives' prior work experience, educational background, personal characteristics, and differences in the role's requirements and socialization agents' characteristics, can all serve as forces driving or restraining the likelihood of strategic change. This perspective goes beyond the distinction between a successor's origin as an organizational insider or outsider used in previous research to explain the strategic implication of chief executive succession. It provides a description of an underlying process – socialization – that constitutes a theoretical rationale for the link between executive successions and strategic outcomes. Date: 1997 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:34:y:1997:i:4:p:561-584 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Journal of Management Studies is currently edited by Timothy Clark, Steven W. Floyd and Mike Wright More articles in Journal of Management Studies from Wiley Blackwell |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.