A Behavioral Theory of the Firm - 40 Years and Counting: Introduction and Impact

@article{Argote2007ABT,
  title={A Behavioral Theory of the Firm - 40 Years and Counting: Introduction and Impact},
  author={Linda Argote and Henrich R. Greve},
  journal={Organ. Sci.},
  year={2007},
  volume={18},
  pages={337-349}
}
In this introductory piece, we take stock of the impact of Cyert and March's A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, describe current research trends in the behavioral tradition, and introduce the special issue's papers. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm is one of the most influential management books of all time. In the book, Cyert and March developed theoretical building blocks that became the foundations for current research in organizational studies in management, economics, political science, and… Expand
View via Publisher
414 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
27
Background Citations
170
Methods Citations
21
Results Citations
7

Topics from this paper

      414 Citations

      Citation Type

      Citation Type

      A retrospective look at A Behavioral Theory of the Firm
      Abstract The papers in this special issue focus on ideas associated with a book published 45 years ago, A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert, R.M., March, J.G., 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the… Expand
      Organizational Goals: Antecedents, Formation Processes, and Implications for Firm Behavior
      The existence of definite organizational goals is a longstanding and central premise in organization and management research. It is more than 50 years since Cyert and March’s (1963) study on the… Expand
      Behavioral theory of the firm: hopes for the past; lessons from the future
      This paper is a discussion of “behavioral theory of the firm”. It focuses on understanding aspects of the pre-history, the context, the reception and the evolution of some of the main ideas found in… Expand
      Contracts, Entrepreneurs, Market Creation and Judgement: The Contemporary Mainstream Theory of the Firm in Perspective
      This survey gives an overview of the theory of the firm as it is formulated within the contemporary 'mainstream' of economics. Two groupings of theories are briefly discussed: principal-agent and… Expand
      Organizational change: a review of theoretical conceptions that explain how and why young firms change
      Change in new ventures is a vibrant research topic. Scholars can draw on a number of theories that emerged as a result of decades of research in organizational and social sciences focused on large… Expand
      Contracts, Entrepreneurs, Market Creation and Judgement: The Contemporary Mainstream Theory of the Firm in Perspective
      This survey gives an overview of the theory of the firm as it is formulated within the contemporary ‘mainstream’ of economics. Two groupings of theories are briefly discussed: principal–agent and… Expand
      Organizational Learning
      The idea of organizational learning can be traced to a seminal book titled ‘The Behavioral Theory of the Firm’. In contrast to rational conceptions of organizations as entities solving maximization… Expand
      The Theory of the Firm: An Overview of the Economic Mainstream, Revised Edition
      In this survey we give a short overview of the way in which the theory of the firm has been formulated within the 'mainstream' of economics, both 'past' and 'present'. As to a break point between the… Expand
      Determinants of Firms' Backward- and Forward-Looking R&D Search Behavior
      TLDR
      The findings show that both performance feedback and performance prospect are important determinants of firms' search behavior after controlling for firm, industry, and time effects, and backward-and forward-looking determinants have interactive effects on search behavior. Expand
      Toward a behavioral theory of open innovation
      Although open innovation has become increasingly established in the management literature, comprehensive theoretical explanations of what drives firms to be open are sparse. By taking the perspective… Expand
      ...
      1
      2
      3
      4
      5
      ...

      References

      SHOWING 1-10 OF 189 REFERENCES
      Perspective - On the Evolutionary and Behavioral Theories of Organizations: A Tentative Roadmap
      TLDR
      It is suggested that evolutionary theory should coherently embrace an “embeddedness” view of organizations, whereby the latter are not simply efficient solutions to informational problems arising from contract incompleteness and uncertainty, but also shape the “visions of the world,” interaction networks, behavioral patterns, and the identity of the agents. Expand
      A Behavioral Resource-Based View of the Firm: The Synergy of Cyert and March (1963) and Penrose (1959)
      • C. Pitelis
      • Economics, Computer Science
      • Organ. Sci.
      • 2007
      TLDR
      This paper derives propositions common to the two theories and new ones of importance to the understanding of organizational growth and change from Cyert and March's (1963) seminal behavioral theory, paying particular attention to the issue of “excess resources,” slack, and (intrafirm) conflict. Expand
      Perspective - Historical Roots of the A Behavioral Theory of the Firm Model at GSIA
      TLDR
      It is suggested that the academic environment within which this theory and model grew was instrumental in its emergence and innovative embodiments of organizational attention, organizational learning, organizational memory, routines, metaroutines, aspiration level adjustments and computational experiments are revealed. Expand
      The Theory of the Growth of the Firm
      Investment and the behavioral theory of the firm: evidence from shipbuilding
      Investment in production assets is a strategic decision that results from organizational search and risk taking. The behavioral theory of the firm predicts that performance below the aspiration level… Expand
      An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.by Richard R. Nelson; Sidney G. Winter
      A Behavioral Resource-Based View of the Firm
      Cyert and March's (1963) seminal behavioral theory is one of the two major economics-based theories of the firm that goes inside the “black box” (the firm)---the other being the contribution of Edi...
      Review of James G. March, Martin Schulz, and Xueguang Zhou, The Dynamics of Rules: Change in Written Organizational Codes
      TLDR
      The authors not only develop a new organizational genre and a theory to go with it, but introduce a new kind of data: demographic data on organizational rules. Expand
      An evolutionary theory of economic change
      This study develops an evolutionary theory of the capabilities and behavior of business firms operating in a market environment. It includes both general discussion and the manipulation of specific… Expand
      Perspective - Administrative Behavior: Laying the Foundations for Cyert and March
      TLDR
      This essay shows how Simon broke with major pre--World War II intellectual traditions and thereby laid the groundwork on which A Behavioral Theory depends and suggests the contemporary potential of returning to themes that were set aside by Simon, but were key for prewar pragmatists, such as emphasizing the roles of habit and emotion in organizational action. Expand
      ...
      1
      2
      3
      4
      5
      ...