How the ghosts of past experience haunt problemistic search
研究发现企业只有在近期有过某种搜寻活动的经验时，才会在业绩低于期望时采用该搜寻模式；同时，企业多元化、规模、其他搜寻经验及吸收性冗余会调节这一效应。
The behavioral theory of the firm suggests that when performance falls below aspirations, firms engage in problemistic search for solutions to the performance shortfall. In this article, we contend recent experience is a critical determinant of the search mode employed by the firm. With this foundation, we examine the boundary conditions of search and investigate whether central behavioral theory of the firm concepts of coalitions, routines, and slack resources exacerbate or alleviate the effect of recent experience. We focus our theorizing and empirical tests on R&D search, and results confirm that a firm will generally only engage in a specific search mode in response to performance shortfalls if it has had recent experience with that activity. Examination of boundary conditions indicates that the influence of recent experience is weaker for firms that have experience with other search modes, weaker for diversified firms, stronger for larger firms, and stronger for firms with more absorbed slack.