Under Attack! CEO Implicit Motives and Firm Competitive Responses Following Short Seller Activism

References

• Activist Insight (2020) The activist investing annual review: The seventh annual review of trends in shareholder activism. Accessed April 26, 2021, https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/02/19/the-activist-investing-annual-review-2020/.Google Scholar
• Aguinis H, Nesler MS, Quigley BM, Tedeschi JT (1994) Perceptions of power: A cognitive perspective. Soc. Behav. Personal. 22(4):377–384.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ahn A, Wiersema M (2021) Activist hedge funds: Beware the new titans. Acad. Management Perspect. 35(1):96–122.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Allison PD, Waterman RP (2002) Fixed-effects negative binomial regression models. Sociol. Methodological 32(1):247–265.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Barrick MR, Mount MK, Li N (2013) The theory of purposeful work behavior: The role of personality, higher-order goals, and job characteristics. Acad. Management Rev. 38(1):132–153.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Baum JAC, Korn HJ (1996) Competitive dynamics of interfirm rivalry. Acad. Management J. 39(2):255–291.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Blackwell M, Iacus S, King G, Porro G (2009) CEM: Coarsened exact matching in Stata. Stata J. 9(4):524–546.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Boyd B (1995) CEO duality and firm performance: A contingency model. Strategic Management J. 16(4):301–312.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bradley MT, MacLaren V, Carle SB (1996) Deception and nondeception in guilty knowledge and guilty actions polygraph tests. J. Appl. Psych. 81(2):153–160.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Brunstein JC, Maier GW (2005) Implicit and self-attributed motives to achieve: Two separate but interacting needs. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 89(2):205–222.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Brunstein JC, Schultheiss OC, Grässman R (1998) Personal goals and emotional well-being: The moderating role of motive dispositions. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 75(2):494–508.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bundy J, Vogel RM, Zachary MA (2018) Organization-stakeholder fit: A dynamic theory of cooperation, compromise, and conflict between an organization and its stakeholders. Strategic Management J. 39(2):476–501.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bundy J, Pfarrer MD, Short CE, Coombs WT (2017) Crises and crisis management: Integration, interpretation, and research development. J. Management 43(6):1661–1692.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bushee BJ (2001) Do institutional investors prefer near-term earnings over long-run value? Contemporary Accounting Res. 18(2):207–246.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bushee BJ (2004) Identifying and attracting the “right” investors: Evidence on the behavior of institutional investors. J. Appl. Corporate Finance 16(4):28–35.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chatterjee A, Hambrick DC (2007) It’s all about me: Narcissistic chief executive officers and their effects on company strategy and performance. Admin. Sci. Quart. 52(3):351–386.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chattopadhyay P, Glick WH, Huber GP (2001) Organizational actions in response to threats and opportunities. Acad. Management J. 44(5):937–955.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen S, Feldman ER (2018) Activist-impelled divestitures and shareholder value. Strategic Management J. 39(10):2726–2744.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen MJ, Miller D (2012) Competitive dynamics: Themes, trends, and a prospective research platform. Acad. Management Ann. 6:135–210.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen G, Meyer-Doyle P, Shi W (2020) Hedge fund investor activism and human capital loss. Strategic Management J. In press.Google Scholar
• Chin MK, Hambrick DC, Treviño LK (2013) Political ideologies of CEOs: The influence of executives’ values on corporate social responsibility. Admin. Sci. Quart. 58(2):197–232.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chowdhury SD, Wang EZ (2009) Institutional activism types and CEO compensation: A time-series analysis of large Canadian corporations. J. Management 35(1):5–36.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Christophe SE, Ferri MG, Hsieh J (2010) Informed trading before analyst downgrades: Evidence from short sellers. J. Financial Econom. 95(1):85–106.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Connelly BL, Shi W, Hoskisson R, Koka B (2019a) Shareholder influence on joint venture exploration. J. Management 45(8):3178–3203.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Connelly BL, Tihanyi L, Certo ST, Hitt MA (2010) Marching to the beat of different drummers: The influence of institutional owners on competitive actions. Acad. Management J. 53(4):723–742.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Connelly BL, Lee KB, Tihanyi L, Certo ST, Johnson JL (2019b) Something in common: Competitive dissimilarity and performance of rivals with common shareholders. Acad. Management J. 62(1):1–21.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Connelly BL, Tihanyi L, Ketchen DJ, Carnes C, Ferrier W (2017) Competitive repertoire complexity: Governance antecedents and performance outcomes. Strategic Management J. 38(5):1151–1173.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Cyert RM, March JG (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).Google Scholar
• D’Aunno T, Sutton RI (1992) The responses of drug abuse treatment organizations to financial adversity: A partial test of the threat-rigidity thesis. J. Management 18(1):117–131.Google Scholar
• David P, Hitt MA, Gimeno J (2001) The influence of activism by institutional investors on R&D. Acad. Management J. 44(1):144–157.Crossref, Google Scholar
• De Luque MS, Washburn NT, Waldman DA, House RJ (2008) Unrequited profit: How stakeholder and economic values relate to subordinates’ perceptions of leadership and firm performance. Admin. Sci. Quart. 53(4):626–654.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Denes MR, Karpoff JM, McWilliams VB (2017) Thirty years of shareholder activism: A survey of empirical research. J. Corporate Finance 44:405–424.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DesJardine MR, Bansal P (2019) One step forward, two steps back: how negative external evaluations can shorten organizational time horizons. Organ. Sci. 30(4):761–780.Link, Google Scholar
• DesJardine MR, Durand R (2020) Disentangling the effects of hedge fund activism on firm financial and social performance. Strategic Management J. 41(6):1054–1082.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DesJardine MR, Shi W (2021) How temporal focus shapes the influence of executive compensation on risk taking. Acad. Management J. 64(1):1–28.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DesJardine MR, Bansal P, Yang Y (2019) Bouncing back: Building resilience through social and environmental practices in the context of the 2008 global financial crisis. J. Management 45(4):1434–1460.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DesJardine MR, Marti E, Durand R (in press). Why activist hedge funds target socially responsible firms: The reaction costs of signaling corporate social responsibility. Acad. Management J., ePub ahead of print April 22, https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2019.0238.Google Scholar
• Dess GG, Beard DW (1984) Dimensions of organizational task environments. Admin. Sci. Quart. 29(1):52–73.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Dukerich JM, Golden BR, Shortell SM (2002) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The impact of organizational identification identity and image on the cooperative behaviors of physicians. Admin. Sci. Quart. 47(3):507–533.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ferrier WJ (2001) Navigating the competitive landscape: The drivers and consequences of competitive aggressiveness. Acad. Management J. 44(4):858–877.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Finkelstein S (1992) Power in top management teams: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Acad. Management J. 35(3):505–538.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Finkelstein S, D’Aveni RA (1994) CEO duality as a double-edged sword: How boards of directors balance entrenchment avoidance and unity of command. Acad. Management J. 37(5):1079–1108.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Finkelstein S, Hambrick DC, Cannella AA (2009) Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards (Oxford University Press, New York).Google Scholar
• Fodor EM, Smith T (1982) The power motive as an influence on group decision making. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 42(1):178–185.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gamache D, McNamara G, Mannor MJ, Johnson RE (2015) Motivated to acquire? The impact of CEO regulatory focus on firm acquisitions. Acad. Management J. 58(4):1261–1282.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gao H, Yu T, Cannella A (2017) Understanding word responses in competitive dynamics. Acad. Management Rev. 42(1):129–144.Crossref, Google Scholar
• George E, Chattopadhyay P, Sitkin SB, Barden J (2006) Cognitive underpinnings of institutional persistence and change: A framing perspective. Acad. Management Rev. 31(2):347–365.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Goranova M, Ryan LV (2014) Shareholder activism: A multidisciplinary review. J. Management 40(5):1230–1268.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Goranova M, Abouk R, Nystrom PC, Soofi ES (2017) Corporate governance antecedents to shareholder activism: A zero-inflated process. Strategic Management J. 38(2):415–435.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Guo W, Sengul M, Yu T (2020) Rivals’ negative earnings surprises, language signals, and firms’ competitive actions. Acad. Management J. 63(3):637–659.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hagemeyer B, Dufner M, Denissen J (2016) Double dissociation between implicit and explicit affiliative motives: A closer look at socializing behavior in dyadic interactions. J. Res. Personality 65:89–93.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hainmueller J (2012) Entropy balancing for causal effects: A multivariate reweighting method to produce balanced samples in observational studies. Political Anal. 20:25–46.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hambrick DC (2007) Upper echelons theory: An update. Acad. Management Rev. 32(2):334–343.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hambrick DC, Mason PA (1984) Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Acad. Management Rev. 9(2):193–206.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Harrison JS, Thurgood GR, Boivie S, Pfarrer MD (2019) Measuring CEO personality: Developing, validating, and testing a linguistic tool. Strategic Management J. 40(8):1316–1330.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hayward ML, Hambrick DC (1997) Explaining the premiums paid for large acquisitions: Evidence of CEO hubris. Admin. Sci. Quart. 42(1):103–127.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Heckhausen H (1977) Achievement motivation and its constructs: A cognitive model. Motivation Emotion 1(4):283–329.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hill AD, Recendes T, Ridge JW (2019) Second-order effects of CEO characteristics: How rivals’ perceptions of CEOs as submissive and provocative precipitate competitive attacks. Strategic Management J. 40(5):809–835.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hoberg G, Phillips G (2016) Text-based network industries and endogenous product differentiation. J. Political Econom. 124(5):1423–1465.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hoberg G, Phillips G, Prabhala N (2014) Product market threats, payouts, and financial flexibility. J. Finance 69(1):293–324.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hogenraad R (2003) The words that predict the outbreak of wars. Empirical Stud. Arts 21(1):5–20.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Iacus SM, King G, Porro G (2012) Causal inference without balance checking: Coarsened exact matching. Political Anal. 20(1):1–24.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jenkins SR (1987) Need for achievement and women’s careers over 14 years: Evidence for occupational structure effects. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 53(5):922–932.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jenkins SR (1994) Need for power and women’s careers over 14 years: Structural power, job satisfaction, and motive change. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 66(1):155–165.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kahneman D, Tversky A (1979) Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47(2):263–291.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Karpoff JM, Lou X (2010) Short sellers and financial misconduct. J. Finance 65(5):1879–1913.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kehr HM (2004) Integrating implicit motives, explicit motives, and perceived abilities: The compensatory model of work motivation and volition. Acad. Management Rev. 29(3):479–499.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Koestner R, McClelland DC (1992) The affiliation motive. Motivation and Personality: Handbook of Thematic Content Analysis (Cambridge University Press, New York), 205–210.Crossref, Google Scholar
• König A, Graf-Vlachy L, Schöberl M (2021) Opportunity/threat perception and inertia in response to discontinuous change: Replicating and extending Gilbert (2005). J. Management 47(3):771–816.Google Scholar
• Lang JW, Zettler I, Ewen C, Hülsheger UR (2012) Implicit motives, explicit traits, and task and contextual performance at work. J. Appl. Psych. 97(6):1201–1217.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Levine DI, Toffel MW (2010) Quality management and job quality: How the ISO 9001 standard for quality management systems affects employees and employers. Management Sci. 56(6):978–996.Link, Google Scholar
• Li J, Xia J, Lin Z (2017) Cross-border acquisitions by state-owned firms: How do legitimacy concerns affect the completion and duration of their acquisitions? Strategic Management J. 38(9):1915–1934.Crossref, Google Scholar
• LIWC (2019) Interpreting LIWC Output (Pennebaker Conglomerates, Austin, TX).Google Scholar
• Low A (2009) Managerial risk-taking behavior and equity-based compensation. J. Financial Econom. 92(3):470–490.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Malmendier U, Tate G (2005) CEO overconfidence and corporate investment. J. Financial 60(6):2661–2700.Google Scholar
• Marcel JJ, Barr PS, Duhaime IM (2011) The influence of executive cognition on competitive dynamics. Strategic Management J. 32(2):115–138.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McClelland DC (1953) The Achievement Motive (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York).Crossref, Google Scholar
• McClelland DC (1961) The Achieving Society (Van Nostrand Reinhold, Princeton, NJ).Crossref, Google Scholar
• McClelland DC (1985) How motives, skills, and values determine what people do. Amer. Psych. 40(7):812–825.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McClelland DC (1987) Human Motivation (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).Google Scholar
• McClelland DC, Boyatzis RE (1982) Leadership motive pattern and long-term success in management. J. Appl. Psych. 67(6):737–743.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McClelland DC, Koestner R, Weinberger J (1989) How do self-attributed and implicit motives differ? Psych. Rev. 96(4):690–702.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McDonnell M-H (2016) Radical repertoires: The incidence and impact of corporate-sponsored social activism. Organ. Sci. 27(1):53–71.Link, Google Scholar
• McDonnell M-H, Cobb JA (2019) Take a stand or keep your seat: Board turnover after social movement boycotts. Acad. Management J. 10.5465/amj.2017.0890.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McDonnell M-H, King B (2013) Keeping up appearances: Reputational threat and impression management after social movement boycotts. Admin. Sci. Quart. 58(3):387–419.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McDonnell M-H, Werner T (2016) Blacklisted businesses: Social activists’ challenges and the disruption of corporate political activity. Admin. Sci. Quart. 61(4):584–620.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McKenny AF, Aguinis H, Short JC, Anglin AH (2018) What doesn’t get measured does exist: Improving the accuracy of computer-aided text analysis. J. Management 44(7):2909–2933.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McKinley W, Latham S, Braun M (2014) Organizational decline and innovation: Turnarounds and downward spirals. Acad. Management Rev. 39(1):88–110.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Nadkarni S, Chen T, Chen J (2016) The clock is ticking! Executive temporal depth, industry velocity, and competitive aggressiveness. Strategic Management J. 37:1132–1153.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ndofor HA, Sirmon DG, He X (2011) Firm resources, competitive actions and performance: Investigating a mediated model with evidence from the in‐vitro diagnostics industry. Strategic Management J. 32(6):640–657.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Olden A, Møen J 2020. The triple difference estimator. NHH Dept. of Business and Management Science Discussion Paper.Google Scholar
• Osiyevskyy O, Dewald J (2015) Explorative vs. exploitative business model change: The cognitive antecedents of firm‐level responses to disruptive innovation. Strategic Entrepreneur. J. 9(1):58–78.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ou AY, Seo J, Choi D, Hom PW (2017) When can humble top executives retain middle managers? The moderating role of top management team faultlines. Acad. Management J. 60(5):1915–1931.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ou AY, Tsui AS, Kinicki AJ, Waldman DA, Xiao Z, Song LJ (2014) Humble chief executive officers’ connections to top management team integration and middle managers’ responses. Admin. Sci. Quart. 59(1):34–72.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Pennebaker JW, Booth RJ, Boyd RL, Francis ME (2015) Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: Operator’s Manual (Pennebaker Conglomerates, Austin, TX).Google Scholar
• Peterson RS, Smith DB, Martorana PV, Owens PD (2003) The impact of chief executive officer personality on top management team dynamics: One mechanism by which leadership affects organizational performance. J. Appl. Psych. 88(5):795–808.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Saebi T, Lien L, Foss NJ (2017) What drives business model adaptation? The impact of opportunities, threats and strategic orientation. Long Range Plannning 50(5):567–581.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schultheiss OC (2008) Implicit motives. John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA, eds. Handbook of Personality Psyschology: Theory and Research (Guilford Press, New York), 603–633.Google Scholar
• Schultheiss OC (2013) Are implicit motives revealed in mere words? Testing the marker-word hypothesis with computer-based text analysis. Frontiers. Psych. 4: article number 748.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schultheiss OC, Brunstein JC (2002) Inhibited power motivation and persuasive communication: A lens model analysis. J. Personality 70(4):553–582.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schultheiss OC, Brunstein JC (2010) Implicit Motives (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shi W, Connelly BL, Cirik K (2018) Short seller influence on firm growth: A threat-rigidity perspective. Acad. Management J. 61(5):1892–1919.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shi W, Ndofor HA, Hoskisson RE (2020a) Disciplining role of short sellers: Evidence fom M&A activity. J. Management. In press.Google Scholar
• Shi W, King D, Connelly BL (2021) Closing the deal: Managerial response to short sellers following M&A announcement. J. Bus. Res. 130:188–199.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shi W, Zhang Y, Hoskisson R (2019) Examination of CEO–CFO social interaction through language style matching: Outcomes for the CFO and the organization. Acad. Management J. 62(2):383–414.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shi W, Connelly BL, Hoskisson R, Ketchen D (2020b) Portfolio spillover of institutional investor activism: An awareness-motivation-capability perspective. Acad. Management J. 63(6):1865–1892.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shimizu K (2007) Prospect theory, behavioral theory, and the threat-rigidity thesis: Combinative effects on organizational decisions to divest formerly acquired units. Acad. Management J. 50(6): 149 5–1514.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Smith MS (1968) The computer and the TAT. J. School Psych. 6(3):206–214.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Smith KG, Ferrier WJ, Ndofor H (2001) Competitive dynamics research: critique and future directions. Hitt M, Freeman RE, Harrison JR, eds. Handbook of Strategic Management (Blackwell Publishers, London), 315–361.Google Scholar
• Smith CP, Atkinson JW, McClelland DC, Veroff J (1992) Motivation and Personality: Handbook of Thematic Content Analysis (Cambridge University Press, New York, NY).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Smith KG, Grimm CM, Gannon MJ, Chen M-J (1991) Organizational information processing, competitive responses, and performance in the US domestic airline industry. Acad. Management J. 34(1):60–85.Google Scholar
• Spangler WD (1992) Validity of questionnaire and TAT measures of need for achievement: Two meta-analyses. Psych. Bull. 112(1):140–154.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Staw BM, Sandelands LE, Dutton JE (1981) Threat rigidity effects in organizational behavior: A multilevel analysis. Admin. Sci. Quart. 26(4):501–524.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Stone PJ, Dunphy DC, Smith MS (1966) The General Inquirer: A Computer Approach to Content Analysis (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).Google Scholar
• Tang Y, Mack DZ, Chen G (2018) The differential effects of CEO narcissism and hubris on corporate social responsibility. Strategic Management J. 39(5):1370–1387.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Tyler BB, Caner T (2016) New product introductions below aspirations, slack and R&D alliances: A behavioral perspective. Strategic Management J. 37(5):896–910.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Voss GB, Sirdeshmukh D, Voss ZG (2008) The effects of slack resources and environmental threat on product exploration and exploitation. Acad. Management J. 51(1):147–164.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Wan WP, Yiu DW (2009) From crisis to opportunity: Environmental jolt, corporate acquisitions, and firm performance. Strategic Management J. 30(7):791–801.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Wang G, Holmes RM Jr, Oh IS, Zhu W (2016) Do CEOs matter to firm strategic actions and firm performance? A meta‐analytic investigation based on upper echelons theory. Person. Psych. 69(4):775–862.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Wiersema M, Ahn A, Zhang Y (2020) Activist hedge fund success: The role of reputation. Strategic Management J. 10.1002/smj.3210Crossref, Google Scholar
• Winter DG (1987) Leader appeal, leader performance, and the motive profiles of leaders and followers: A study of American presidents and elections. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 52:196–202.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Winter DG (2010) Political and historical consequences of implicit motives. Schultheiss O, Brunstein J, eds. Implicit Motives (Oxford University Press, New York), 407–432.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Winter DG (2016) Taming power: Generative historical consciousness. Amer. Psych. 71(3):160–174.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Winter DG, John OP, Stewart AJ, Klohnen EC, Duncan LE (1998) Traits and motives: Toward an integration of two traditions in personality research. Psych. Rev. 105(2):230–250.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Young G, Smith KG, Grimm CM (1996) “Austrian” and industrial organization perspectives on firm-level competitive activity and performance. Organ. Sci. 7(3):243–254.Link, Google Scholar
• Zhu DH, Chen G (2015) CEO narcissism and the impact of prior board experience on corporate strategy. Admin. Sci. Quart. 60(1):31–65.Crossref, Google Scholar