Learning from Mergers and Acquisitions Experience: The Role of CEO Ambivalent Cognition

  • Philipp Benedikt Becker (Redner*in)
  • Klarner, P. (Ko-Autor*in)

Aktivität: VortragWissenschaftlicher Vortrag (Science-to-Science)

Beschreibung

While previous studies have primarily spotlighted the negative consequences of CEO experience accumulation in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) such as overconfidence and narcissism, cognitive characteristics that allow CEOs to benefit from their growing M&A experience are unknown. We draw from behavioral strategy and cognitive psychology research to introduce CEO ambivalent cognition as such an enabling factor. Ambivalent cognition refers to a thinking style that favors positive and negative evaluations (valences) simultaneously. We hypothesize that CEO ambivalent cognition moderates the relationship between CEO M&A experience and M&A performance. CEOs exhibiting ambivalent cognition are more likely to identify strengths and weaknesses in prior acquisitions, which improves learning from M&A experience. A novel and transparent machine-learning-based approach enables us to measure CEO valences in a dataset of 2.6 million sentences. We find robust support for our hypothesis based on an analysis of 6,172 transactions of S&P 500 firms. Our study contributes to behavioral strategy research by advancing the cognitive perspective on how CEOs learn from the causally ambiguous performance feedback of acquisitions.
Zeitraum13 Aug. 2024
EreignistitelAcademy of Management (AOM) 2024: Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2024
VeranstaltungstypKonferenz
Konferenznummer84
OrtChicago, USA/Vereinigte Staaten, IllinoisAuf Karte anzeigen
BekanntheitsgradInternational