A Contingency-Based View of Chief Executive Officers' Early Warning Behaviour

Organizations need to identify risks and chances of environmental changes in order to adapt to or possibly even to influence them. Early warning which comprises scanning and interpretation plays an important role in this process. Whereas the traditional contingency approach considers early warning as a part of the organizational structure, the extended contingency theory assumes the additional influence of an individual's personality on early warning.

Andreas Kirschkamp empirically analyses the early warning behavior of Chief Executive Officers in German medium-sized companies. First, he presents the design variables of early warning, then the influencing contingency variables. On the basis of the scholarly research on psychological and contingency theory, the author deduces hypotheses and tests them. The results show that early warning behavior is not only influenced by traditional contingency variables but also by personal attitudes. Therefore, the author proposes combining the extended contingency theory with the traditional contingency theory.

Autorentext
Dr. Andreas Kirschkamp promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer am Lehrstuhl für Controlling der European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. Er ist im Bereich Mergers & Acquisitions bei der Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck in Stuttgart tätig.

Inhalt
Understanding of Early Warning in Literature and Definition of Important Terms.- Contingency Theory as an Approach to Explain Early Warning Behavior.- Deduction of Hypotheses.- Operationalization of the Research Model.- Methodological Conception of the Analysis.- Results of the Empirical Analysis.- Final Thoughts and Outlook.