Managerial Style and Attention

Is firm behavior mainly driven by its environment or rather by the characteristics of its managers? We develop a cognitive theory of manager fixed effects, where the allocation of managerial attention determines firm behavior. We show that in complex environments, the endogenous allocation of attention exacerbates manager fixed effects. Small differences in managerial expertise then may result in dramatically different firm behavior, as managers devote scarce attention in a way that amplifies initial differences. In contrast, in less complex environments, the endogenous allocation of attention mitigates manager fixed effects. Firm owners prefer “managers with style” only in complex environments. (JEL D21, D23, G34, M10, M31, M54)

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The flexibility of corporate payouts vis-à-vis capital investment: some UK evidence

International Journal of Managerial Finance ◽

10.1108/ijmf-10-2020-0516 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Ioannis Chasiotis ◽

Andreas G. Georgantopoulos

Keyword(s):

Fixed Effects ◽

Firm Behavior ◽

Estimation Methods ◽

Share Repurchases ◽

Quantile Regressions ◽

Growth Opportunities ◽

Content Type ◽

Conditional Mean ◽

Heterogeneous Firm ◽

The Uk

PurposeThis study investigates the relative flexibility of payouts vis-à-vis investment in the UK, motivated by concerns regarding this market's distinct payout characteristics and limited relevant research. It addresses the information gap related to the use of conditional mean estimations and examines firm behavior across the investment distribution.Design/methodology/approachThe sample is an unbalanced panel of 6,173 firm-year observations, from 271 non-financial firms in the FTSE-All Share Index, during 1990–2019. Estimation methods include pooled- ordinary least squares (OLS) and firm fixed-effects regressions as well as unconditional quantile regressions with firm fixed effects.FindingsFor the “average” firm results show a negative relationship between share repurchases and investment, amplified in the presence of financial constraints and growth opportunities. Quantile regressions analysis reveals heterogeneous firm behavior as this relationship becomes stronger in successive quantiles of the investment distribution and disappears at the upper/lower extremes. Results suggest that UK firms exploit the inherent flexibility of share repurchases to facilitate investment. However, this flexibility appears irrelevant to firms with extremely high/low investment, characterized by significant differences in growth opportunities, cash flows and external financing cost. Dividends and investment are independent across the investment distribution, underlining the rigidity of dividends in the UK.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relative flexibility of payouts vis-à-vis investment in the UK, using firm-level financial data and at points other than the conditional mean. Its value lies in that it shows that share repurchases facilitate rather than impede investment and thus do not corroborate relevant concerns by economists and policymakers. Additionally, by utilizing a relatively new methodology it uncovered heterogeneous firm behavior across the investment distribution suggesting that conditional mean estimations should be applied with caution at least for highly heterogeneous samples.

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Home Values and Firm Behavior

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.20180649 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 110 (7) ◽

pp. 2225-2270 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Saleem Bahaj ◽

Angus Foulis ◽

Gabor Pinter

Keyword(s):

Firm Behavior ◽

Investment Demand ◽

Aggregate Investment ◽

Home Values ◽

Firm Owners

The homes of firm owners are an important source of finance for ongoing businesses. We use UK microdata to show that a £1 increase in the value of the homes of a firm’s directors increases the firm’s investment by £0.03. This effect is concentrated among firms whose directors’ homes are valuable relative to the firm’s assets, that are financially constrained, and that have directors who are personally highly levered. An aggregation exercise shows that directors’ homes are as important as corporate property for collateral driven fluctuations in aggregate investment demand. (JEL D22, D25, E22, G31, G34, R31)

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Revisiting Managerial 'Style': The Replicability and Falsifiability of Manager Fixed Effects for Firm Policies

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2933162 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Victor Jarosiewicz ◽

David Gaddis Ross

Keyword(s):

Fixed Effects ◽

Managerial Style

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Game-based Training of Listening Skills: The Effects of Degraded Communications

International Journal of Serious Games ◽

10.17083/ijsg.v1i4.44 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Clint Bowers ◽

Talib Hussain ◽

Katelyn Procci

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Cognitive Theory ◽

Multimedia Learning ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Active Listening ◽

Listening Skills ◽

Complex Environments ◽

Transfer Condition ◽

Effective Combination ◽

Extract Information

Many important tasks depend upon the ability of personnel to be able to extract information from verbal communication in suboptimal conditions. However, there is little guidance in how best to train people to improve this skill, specifically regarding the most effective combination of human or synthesized speech with or without text captions. In this study, we examined two competing theories, the cognitive theory of multimedia learning versus resilient listening, to determine best practices for designing a game to train active listening skills in complex environments. One-hundred and nineteen U.S. Navy recruits (53% male, average age of 21.5 years) participated in this study. The results indicated that games with degraded auditory conditions did not improve listening abilities in a transfer condition. Games using recorded human voices resulted in the best performance.

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Das Sozio-Oekonomische Panel als Datenbasis für die Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie

Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie A&O ◽

10.1026/0932-4089/a000273 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 111-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marco Giesselmann ◽

Mila Staneva ◽

Jürgen Schupp ◽

David Richter

Keyword(s):

Fixed Effects

Zusammenfassung. Der Beitrag zeigt die Analysepotentiale der repräsentativen Mikrodaten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) für die Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie (A/O-Psychologie) auf. Dabei werden allgemeine Charakteristika von Stichprobe und Erhebung des SOEP vorgestellt, sowie Konstrukte mit besonderer Relevanz für die Psychologie eingeführt. Zudem diskutieren wir Analysemethoden für Paneldaten, mit denen sich die Potentiale des SOEP realisieren lassen. Neben den Möglichkeiten des SOEP für Stabilitäts- und Verlaufsanalysen stellen wir die Potentiale längsschnittlicher Daten für kausale Analysen heraus. Dabei erläutern wir insbesondere die Analyselogik längsschnittlicher Fixed Effects Modellierungen und vergleichen diese mit weiteren längsschnittlichen Analyseverfahren. Wir argumentieren, dass bei Anwendung akkurater Methoden Teilaspekte der experimentellen Analyselogik auf Grundlage längsschnittlicher Surveydaten angenähert werden können. Folglich stellen die Daten des SOEP immer dann eine wertvolle Ressource für die A/O-Psychologie dar, wenn a) unabhängige Merkmale aus ethischen oder praktischen Gründen nicht systematisch manipuliert werden können, b) die Kernbefunde experimenteller Primärstudien auf Grundlage eines repräsentativen Samples repliziert werden sollen oder c) Interesse am langfristigen Verlauf eines Indikators besteht.

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