Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Executive Information Search Within Top Management Teams and its Impact on Organizational Innovation

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    umi-umd-3591.pdf (1.647Mb)
    No. of downloads: 2642

    Date
    2006-06-12
    Author
    Basdeo, Dax
    Advisor
    Smith, Kenneth G
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The focus of this dissertation is an examination of an important yet understudied managerial activity - that of information search. Information is an essential component to the functions of managers, and the way in which information is gathered should therefore be of concern. Given a limited amount of research in this area, two major questions are addressed: What is the relationship between information search activities in top management teams and organizational innovation? To what extent is such a relationship affected by the capability of the top management team to integrate the information gathered through search? In this dissertation, I deal specifically with the search activities of top management teams, differentiating this research from the exclusively organizational focus on search that is present in the innovation literature. Executive information search is thus proposed as a relatively new concept for which I explore a more comprehensive and fine-grained characterization of search than has been attempted before. As a fundamentally individual-level behavior, the characteristics of search are poorly understood. This dissertation develops a model of search that makes the distinction between where search is conducted (terrain) and how search is carried out (process). Further, drawing on ideas from economics, decision-making, and innovation literatures, a set of key search characteristics are developed within the dimensions of both the search terrain and the search process. The findings of this study are in line with previous research that highlights the importance of search. Search that is more effortful, more adaptive, or which draws upon a mix of resource and market information, has a significant impact on organizational innovation. Other characteristics of search are also important, but must be considered in terms of the interaction between how the search is conducted and where the search is conducted. These findings support the view of search as a multi-dimensional construct with several important characteristics that have an impact on organizational innovation.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3661
    Collections
    • Management & Organization Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility