Determinants of executive beliefs: comparing functional conditioning and social influence
研究高管信念的决定因素，发现社会影响比功能经验更能解释高管信念的形成，信念通过高管间的互动被社会性地复制。
Executive beliefs influence strategic decision making in organizations, and thus they ultimately influence organization performance. The factors that might determine upper-echelon executive beliefs, however, have received scant empirical attention; certainly, little is known about their relative influence. In contrast to the oft-asserted influence of functional experiences, our results indicate that beliefs held by upper-echelon executives are better explained with an alternate theoretical model based on social influence. Our pattern of results indicates support for the argument that beliefs are socially reproduced through interaction among executives. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.