Research Details

Abstract

We draw on a survey study to examine the relationship between top executive teams' perceptions of a company's market environment and their interpretive orientations, and the company's subsequent financial performance. Companies with executives that see their environment with a moderate degree of accuracy outperform those with highly accurate or highly inaccurate assessments. Positive interpretative orientations and a low sense of control also enhance subsequent performance. The study supports a pragmatic sensemaking view of executive cognition.

Type

Article

Author(s)

Kathleen M. Sutcliffe, Klaus Weber

Date Published

2003

Citations

Sutcliffe, Kathleen M., and Klaus Weber. 2003. The high cost of accurate knowledge. Harvard Business Review.(5): 74-82.