Business leaders’ characteristics and decisions - a synthesis of research in business administration and behavioral economics

During the sabbatical, the plan is to develop a synthesis based on a broader interdisciplinary project studying how business leaders make decisions in strategic games and incentivized elicitation tasks, and how such decisions can be associated with how firms are run. In the synthesis, the aim is to elaborately and critically merge the research from experimental and behavioral economics, primarily on business leaders, with the existing empirical and theoretical work in the management and finance literature.

The research of my co-authors and me that will be one part of the synthesis. This is based on a unique random stratified sample of 700 Chinese CEOs who have participated in three waves from 2009 to 2016, where they have provided information about their background, and their firms, and also made incentivized decisions in games and elicitation tasks. The project has so far studied decisions under uncertainty, in strategic games, and reciprocity situations resulting in six publications in relevant journals (Acad Man Jnl (1), Exp Econ (1), Man Sci (1), Org Sci (3)).

The plan is to write a book manuscript on the synthesis. The sabbatical involves two four-week-long visits to Cornell University and plans for deepened collaboration.