Abstract
The current understanding of the unique contribution of single factors to attention may underestimate the complexity involved in attention allocation. This study aims to design an attention framework and examine the interdependencies between organisational and contextual factors that affect firm attention to exploitation, exploration, and ambidexterity. Drawing on a longitudinal study from 2008-2021, we use a configurational approach and identify seven
distinct attention configurations as the result of different factor interdependences, shedding light on how stability in attention configurations produces consistent attention focus. We also identify four change pathways that illustrate how configurations could be modified in response to radical environmental changes. Our study contributes to the attention-based view by
stressing the importance of two alignments that explain firm high performance: between attention and contextual factors and between attention and organisational factors. Methodologically the novelty of the configurational approach is its ability to capture configuration stability in normal external conditions and trace sudden changes in attention focus and configuration paths under extreme external conditions. This study also enhances exploitation and exploration research on managing attention configuration pathways in terms
of path flexibility, path emergence and path deterioration.
distinct attention configurations as the result of different factor interdependences, shedding light on how stability in attention configurations produces consistent attention focus. We also identify four change pathways that illustrate how configurations could be modified in response to radical environmental changes. Our study contributes to the attention-based view by
stressing the importance of two alignments that explain firm high performance: between attention and contextual factors and between attention and organisational factors. Methodologically the novelty of the configurational approach is its ability to capture configuration stability in normal external conditions and trace sudden changes in attention focus and configuration paths under extreme external conditions. This study also enhances exploitation and exploration research on managing attention configuration pathways in terms
of path flexibility, path emergence and path deterioration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | British Journal of Management |
| Early online date | 28 Jun 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 28 Jun 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Open access via agreement between University of Aberdeen and WileyKeywords
- Configurational theory
- attention-based view
- situated attention
- innovation
- ambidexterity
- exploration and exploitation
Access to Document
- Cai_etal_BJM_Attention_Focus_and_VOR
© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Academy of Management. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Li-cense, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/