All Aspirations are not Created Equal: The Differential Effects of Historical and Social Aspirations on Acquisition Behavior
研究发现，历史抱负与社会抱负对企业收购行为的影响不同，且先前收购绩效的波动性会调节抱负水平与后续收购行为的关系。
Research on performance aspirations has tended to assume that historical and social aspirations work in parallel and influence strategic behavior in a similar manner. We posit that these two distinct modes of performance comparison in fact lead to dissimilar firm behavior. We also explore how variability in prior acquisition performance influences the relationship between aspiration levels and subsequent strategic behavior. We examine our questions in the context of mergers and acquisitions within the U.S. commercial banking industry from 1988 to 2005. Consistent with our opening prediction, we find that firms’ acquisition behavior varies significantly depending on whether historical or social comparisons are used. We also find that high variability in the previous acquisition performance of a firm intensifies the relationship between acquisition performance relative to aspirations and the probability of the firm making acquisitions below historical and social aspirations, but attenuates the relationship above such aspirations.