Creativity and propitiousness in strategic decision making: The role of positive politics and macro-economic uncertainty
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between positive perceptions of politics (i.e. positive politics) and decision creativity and propitiousness (i.e. reaching unforeseen advantages while limiting unexpected problems). In addition, drawing from threat-rigidity effect theory the authors argue that such relationships will be resilient to external environmental threats and specifically macro-economic uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The database for the analyses consisted of 200 strategic decisions gathered from firms located in Dubai.
Findings
Positive politics significantly influence decision creativity and propitiousness. Also, macro-economic uncertainty moderates this relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Although this research has tried to adopt a more neutral perspective on political behavior, much more work is required to better understand the role and implications of neutral politics in decision-making.
Practical implications
If decision makers ensure that the concern for the organization’s welfare remains a priority over the self-serving motives of the actors, then politics can enhance decision success.
Social implications
This paper challenges the long held conventional wisdom that politics in organizations are an important underlying cause of unethical practices, poor decisions and organizational ineffectiveness.
Originality/value
The findings serve to further the understanding of complexities involved in the relationships between political behavior and its consequences.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the fund received from the National Research Foundation and the UAE University (a Grant No. 101 NRF-UAEU [3209-31B014]), and that received from the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) – Research Funding Program: “The impact of the organizational context on human capital development and motivation.” The contributions of the three authors are equal.
Citation
Elbanna, S., Kapoutsis, I. and Mellahi, K. (2017), "Creativity and propitiousness in strategic decision making: The role of positive politics and macro-economic uncertainty", Management Decision, Vol. 55 No. 10, pp. 2218-2236. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2017-0113
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited