Abstract
Top management teams’ (TMTs’) behavioral integration has received extensive attention from strategic management scholars in recent years. To learn more about the consequences of this phenomenon at the team level, we explore the relationship between TMTs’ behavioral integration with their innovativeness and sustainability orientation. To accomplish this, we surveyed 40 TMTs in Iranian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at two points in time. We ran a hierarchical multiple regression in order to test the hypotheses of the study. Building a theoretical model based on the Upper-Echelons framework, we found that the extent to which a TMT is behaviorally integrated is positively and significantly related to TMT innovativeness. Furthermore, our result reveals that a highly behaviorally integrated TMT is more likely to engage in sustainability-oriented actions. Hence, behaviorally integrated TMTs offer its team members an increased chance of being innovative and generating new ideas as compared to less behaviorally integrated TMTs. Finally, our results indicate that the generation of novel ideas is higher in teams with younger members, and that highly educated TMTs generate more innovative ideas in the workplace.
Highlights
Upper Echelons Theory predicts that Top management teams’ (TMTs) characteristics will tend to influence the strategic decisions they make at the firm level [1,2,3]
Building a theoretical model based on the Upper-Echelons framework, we found that the extent to which a TMT is behaviorally integrated is positively and significantly related to TMT innovativeness
We found a positive correlation between TMT innovativeness and sustainability (r = 0.439; p = 0.01)
Summary
Upper Echelons Theory predicts that TMT characteristics will tend to influence the strategic decisions they make at the firm level [1,2,3]. Drawing on the Upper Echelons literature [3,14,15] and the TMT behavioral integration literature [6,7,8,10,11], we theorize that a behaviorally integrated TMT offers its team members an increased chance of being innovative and generating new ideas as compared to less behaviorally integrated TMTs. A behaviorally integrated TMT is characterized by intense interaction among its members that fosters information exchange and leads to collaborative decisions [7]. A behaviorally integrated TMT is characterized by intense interaction among its members that fosters information exchange and leads to collaborative decisions [7] This collaboration among team members increases the probability of receiving new ideas and taking novel actions [16]. The final section contains the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
