Feedback-seeking behavior within multinational corporations

✍ Scribed by Anil K. Gupta; Vijay Govindarajan; Ayesha Malhotra

• Book ID: 101240009
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(199903)20:3<205::aid-smj17>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

Notwithstanding their concern with intra-MNC control mechanisms, scholars have overlooked the complementary phenomenon of self-regulatory behavior by subsidiaries. In this paper, we take the first steps towards addressing this gap by advancing and testing hypotheses dealing with the determinants of a major element of self-regulatory behavior at the subsidiary level, i.e., the performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. Utilizing data from 374 subsidiaries of 75 MNCs, we test hypotheses regarding the impact of subsidiary task and organizational context on the feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) subsidiary presidents do engage in proactive performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior; (ii) they vary in the extent to which they engage in such behavior; and (iii) these variations in feedback-seeking behavior are at least partially systematic.