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Summary The relationship between organizational culture and financial performance remains elusive even though researchers have studied it for some time. Early research suggested that a strong culture that aligns members’ behavior with organizational objectives boosts financial performance. A more recent view is that, because strong cultures promote adherence to routines and behavioral uniformity, they are less effective in dynamic environments. We suggest that the relationship between culture and performance can be reconciled by recognizing that culture encompasses three components: (1) the content of norms (norm content); (2) how widely members agree about norms (culture consensus); and (3) how intensely organizational members hold particular norms (norm intensity). We hypothesize that “strong cultures”—where a high consensus exists among members across a broad set of culture norms—can contribute to better financial performance even in dynamic environments if norm content intensely emphasizes adaptability. We test this hypothesis in a sample of large firms in the high-technology industry. Firms characterized by higher culture consensus and intensity about adaptability performed better three years later than did those characterized by lower consensus, lower intensity about adaptability, or both. We discuss how parsing culture into content, consensus, and intensity advances theoretical and empirical understanding of the culture–performance relationship. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Four studies examined the effect of a perceived unique opportunity on compliance. In all four studies, participants who believed they had an opportunity available to few others were more likely to agree with a request than participants who believed the opportunity was widely available or participants who received no opportunity information. We attribute the effect to a widely held heuristic that one should take advantage of unique opportunities. Study results demonstrated that people respond to a perceived unique opportunity even when supplies are not limited and when the opportunity is the result of pure chance. The results of a mediation analysis supported the interpretation that the perceived uniqueness of the opportunity underlies the effect.

Research has confirmed that leader behavior influences group and organizational behavior, but we know less about how senior leaders ensure that group and organizational members implement their decisions. Most organizations have multiple layers of leaders, implying that any single leader does not lead in isolation. We focused on how the consistency of leadership effectiveness across hierarchical levels influenced the implementation of a strategic initiative in a large health care system. We found that it was only when leaders' effectiveness at different levels was considered in the aggregate that significant performance improvement occurred. We discuss the implications of these findings for leadership research, specifically, that leaders at various levels should be considered collectively to understand how leadership influences employee performance.

Using the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP), this research investigated the extent to which fit between individuals (n = 136) and their competency groups (P–G fit) and the organization (P–O fit) were related to job satisfaction. Even in a consulting firm with a strong organization culture, we found small, but interpretable, differences between the value-based cultures of the competency groups in the firm. Although the two forms of fit were highly correlated, both individual consultants' fit with the culture of their competency group and the organization as a whole were significant predictors of job satisfaction. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper we test two hypotheses that stem from the work of Mellers, Chang, Birnbaum and Ordonez (1992). The first hypothesis is that in a binary gamble, the ratio of WTA to WTP is decreasing in the probability attached to a nonzero event. The second hypothesis is that this ratio is independent of the size of stakes. We find support for the first hypothesis, but mixed support for the second. The second hypothesis holds in the case of gains, but not in the case of losses. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Narcissism is characterized by traits such as dominance, self-confidence, a sense of entitlement, grandiosity, and low empathy. There is growing evidence that individuals with these characteristics often emerge as leaders, and that narcissistic CEOs may make more impulsive and risky decisions. We suggest that these tendencies may also affect how compensation is allocated among top management teams. Using employee ratings of personality for the CEOs of 32 prominent high-technology firms, we investigate whether more narcissistic CEOs have compensation packages that are systematically different from their less narcissistic peers, and specifically whether these differences increase the longer the CEO stays with the firm. As predicted, we find that more narcissistic CEOs who have been with their firm longer receive more total direct compensation (salary, bonus, and stock options), have more money in their total shareholdings, and have larger discrepancies between their own (higher) compensation and the other members of their team.

The constructive comments of W. Gary Wagner, Barry M. Staw, and anonymous ASO reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. The effects of postdecisional justifications on the job satisfaction and commitment of new employees were investigated. One hundred and eight M.B.A.'s were questioned about their job choice immediately after making the decision and then again six months later. Turnover data were collected after 24 months. Results showed that individuals who had made the original decision volitionally, that is, from among a number of offers and free from external constraints, and who had perceived the choice to be irrevocable were more satisfied and committed six months later than others. The perceived irrevocability of the choice and behavioral commitment were also negatively related to turnover after two years. Interaction effects between the sufficiency of the original justification and job alternatives was associated with diminished job satisfaction and commitmentfor insufficiently justified respondents. Overall, the results of this investigation are interpreted as consistent with the view that attitudes and commitment may be created retrospectively through processes of rationalization and justification.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Blake Frank for his help in obtaining the turnover data for this study and the University of California Institute of Industrial Relations for research support. Using 20 actual work units with 79 respondents, this study explores the relationships among group demography, social integration of the group, and individual turnover. Results suggest that heterogeneity in group tenure is associated with lower levels of group social integration which, in turn, is negatively associated with individual turnover. Models of these effects using individual-level integration measures are not significant. Further, the results suggest that it is the more distant group members who are more likely to leave. Both individual-level and group-level age demography directly affect turnover and are not moderated by social integration. The findings suggest a process by which group demography affects outcomes and support the usefulness of organizational demography for understanding group and individual functioning.'