Dear Fellow BPS Members:
We are trying to identify published articles that directly test or extend
the major concepts in Cyert and March?s ?Behavioral Theory of the Firm?. The
four major relational concepts?described in the text as the heart of the
theory of business decision making?are summarized below.
Please send an email to
behtheoryfirm@gmail.com with full references of
published articles (not books or book chapters) that either test or build on
these concepts or extend/advance the behavioral theory of the firm in ways
that do not fit into any of these four themes.
One way to think about this is to identify the papers you would include in a
PhD seminar discussing how the behavioral theory of the firm has moved
forward since the publication of the original book.
Four Major Relational Concepts:
1. Quasi-Resolution of Conflict
- Goals as independent constraints
- Local Rationality
- Acceptable-level decision rules
- Sequential attention to goals
2. Uncertainty Avoidance
- Feedback-react decision procedures
- Negotiated environment
3. Problemistic Search
- Search is motivated
- Search is simple-minded
- Search is biased
4. Organizational Learning
- Adaptation of goals
- Adaptation in attention rules
- Adaptation in search rules
Please respond directly to
behtheoryfirm@gmail.com (not to the entire list)
and we will summarize the responses in a follow up email to the list.
Thank you for your assistance!
Shayne Gary, Theresa Lant, and Steve Mezias