Managerial prescriptions under the resource-based view of strategy: the example of motivational techniques

Abstract

Working from the perspective of the resource-based view of strategy, this paper addresses whether academics, consultants, and other sources of general managerial prescriptions can affect firms' long-run rent streams. The answer is affirmative. To demonstrate this, I discuss the use of motivational techniques as a well-understood and common managerial choice that may affect a firm's chance of generating rents. This paper interprets extant empirical research on goal setting and discusses the conceptualization of temporal rent patterns. I build upon an empirical finding in goal-setting research to compare the temporal patterns of rents for managerial choices embedded in path-dependent vs. path-independent processes. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.