How aspiration and expectation shortfalls drive strategic investments

Performance feedback is an important concept to explain managerial risk taking. This paper aims to distinguish between two forms of performance feedback: A performance shortfall can be positively or negatively associated with risk inclination. The first effect arises for a shortfall from aspirations, while the second effect occurs if there is a shortfall from expectations. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of S&P 1500 firms over a period of 19 years (1992–2010) using a fixed effects regression model. The empirical results suggest that missing aspirations increases the likelihood of risk taking in the form of higher strategic investments. Missing expectations in contrast diminishes managerial power and discretion to engage in risk taking and thus lowers strategic investments. The results further support the idea that both effects reinforce each other, suggesting that shortfalls from expectations and aspirations have an interactive effect. By distinguishing between these two sides of performance feedback, this study provides an improved understanding on managerial risk taking. Additionally, this paper highlights how motivation and power interact when analyzing managerial risk taking.

Framing the European Fund for Strategic Investments: A Comparative Analysis of the EU's Institutional Discourse

In 2014, newly elected Commission President Juncker pushed to create the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the aim of creating jobs and stimulating growth. With guarantees offered by the fund and the involvement of the European Investment Bank, the plan was to use €21 billion to leverage €315 billion of investment in the European economy. The EFSI legislative process was very fast with legislation emerging in just a year, with the first EFSI regulation appearing in mid-2015. Using policy frame analysis, this article zooms in on the discursive patterns of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council, expecting to find transport infrastructure a key theme given the low investment levels in this sector after the financial crisis in 2008. Analysing key documents at two periods in time, and drawing on interviews with officials, it explores the arguments used to make the case for EFSI and how these changes over time, leading to the extension of EFSI through an amended regulation in December 2017. In so doing, it shows the strategic positions of the institutions during Agenda-setting for EFSI. Moreover, he article explores questions of legitimacy and accountability. It reveals how key events including the Paris Agreement on climate change (December 2015) and Brexit referendum (June 2016) increased the persuasiveness of its framing.