In the Eye of the Beholder: Top Managers’ Long-Term Orientation, Industry Context, and Decision-Making Processes

Abstract

Time orientation matters. While a temporal perspective is widely recognized as an important lens in strategic management research, few studies have explored how top managers’ temporal orientation affects strategic decision-making processes. We propose that top managers’ subjective perception of time, specifically, their long-term orientation, positively affects the comprehensiveness, speed, and creativity of strategic decision-making processes and that industry context moderates these relationships. Drawing on the organization-environment fit perspective and associated compatibility and temporal fit mechanisms, we found considerable support for our hypotheses in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries in China. Our findings reinforce the perspective that temporal referent points act as anchors for strategic decision-making processes.