New Commentary Forthcoming in the Academy of Management Discoveries

posted on Jan 20 2018

My co-author Daniel Levin (Rutgers) and I just published a commentary titled "Is tie maintenance necessary?" in the Academy of Management Discoveries.

In this commentary, we build on our research on dormant ties to contrast what we would call the activity-based perspective of tie maintenance—i.e., the premise underlying the vast majority of social networks research that ties to individuals who are associated with one’s past are important to maintain—with we would call the memory-based perspective on tie maintenance, i.e., that the memory of a prior relationship is often sufficient and that past relationships can retain considerable value, without the need for active maintenance.

Outstanding World Executive MBA Faculty Award

posted on Dec 30 2017

I am honored to receive this year's "Outstanding World Executive MBA Faculty Award," especially since it was my first time teaching in the GW WEMBA program. Thanks so much to the WEMBA students--I really enjoyed meeting all of you and the great discussions we had in- and outside the classroom!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

posted on Dec 25 2017

From the Walter Family

Skiing in Flims/Laax

posted on Dec 16 2017

Thanks to Opa & Oma's generosity, the Walter Family enjoyed a fantastic week of skiing in Flims/Laax, Switzerland

Multilevel Modeling Workshop in Philadelphia

posted on Nov 03 2017

Big shout out to Kristopher Preacher for a very insightful workshop on advanced multilevel modeling!

Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on current methods...

2017 SMS Annual International Conference

posted on Oct 31 2017

Congratulations to to the organizers Laura Cardinal, Chet Miller, and Anthea Zhang for a great Strategic Management Society conference in Houston, TX!

As Associate Program Chair for the Strategy Process IG, I co-organized two workshops:

"New frontiers in strategy process & practice research," with Rich Bettis (UNC Chapel Hill), Cynthia Devers (Texas A&M University), Steven Floyd (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Tomi Laamanen (University of St. Gallen), Phil Bromiley (University of California, Irvine), Paula Jarzabkowski (Cass Business School, City University of London), Shenghui Ma (University of Zurich), & Libby Weber (University of California, Irvine); co-chaired with Krsto Pandza (Leeds University Business School).

"The process of publishing process research: Journeying along the (sometimes bumpy but ultimately successful) paths to publication," with Steven Floyd (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), Tomi Laamanen (University of St. Gallen), Henry Mintzberg (McGill University), and Sotirios Paroutis (University of Warwick) ; co-chaired with John Joseph (University of California, Irvine).

Thanks to all panelists and participants for making this happen!

Fall Soccer Season

posted on Oct 27 2017

Congratulations to the "Cheetahs" for a successful Fall soccer season! Jonathan and I are so proud of the team, which just won their end-of-the-season game at Loudoun Soccer Park 6-5!

Dirk in DC

posted on Sep 16 2017

My oldest friend from my St. Gallen days came for a brief visit, and we enjoyed exploring the DMV region (such as the Dirt Farm Brewery in Bluemont, VA)

2017 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

posted on Aug 07 2017

Just returned from this year's Academy of Management Annual Meeting, which took place from August 4-8 in Atlanta, GA. Excited to start my term as member of the Research Committee of the Business Policy and Strategy Division!

For more information, check the AOM Website.

SMS Conference in Banff

posted on Jun 04 2017

Just came back from the SMS Special Conference in Banff where I represented the Strategy Process Interest Group. It was a great experience to meet the other IG leaders and the SMS Board and jointly plan the SMS International Conference later this year in Houston.

Appointed to the Academy of Management BPS Research Committee

posted on May 31 2017

Just accepted the invitation of the Business Policy & Strategy (BPS) Division of the Academy of Management (AOM) to join the BPS Research Committee. This two-year appointment entails reviewing and nominating the papers for the various BPS Best Paper Awards at the Annual Meeting each year and selecting the winner of the Annual Dissertation Award.

I look forward to serving the BPS in this capacity!

Article Recognized as 2016 Outstanding Group & Organization Management Paper

posted on May 25 2017

Our article "Relational enhancement: How the relational dimension of social capital unlocks the value of network-bridging ties" co-authored with Daniel Levin (Rutgers University), Melissa Appleyard (Portland State University), & Rob Cross (University of Virginia) has been recognized as a 2016 Outstanding Group & Organization Management (GOM) Paper and nominated for a "Best GOM Paper" Award by the GOM Editorial Team.

According to the editor, our paper "exemplifies high quality research that is both informative and engaging and hence makes important contributions to the study and practice of management."

Click here to access our paper.

Incoming Associate Editor at Journal of Management

posted on Feb 14 2017

Just accepted the incoming Editor David Allen's invitation to join his team as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Management!

Coming full circle more than a decade after having my very first paper published in that journal...

New Article Forthcoming in Journal of Management

posted on Jan 03 2017

New article forthcoming in Journal of Management:

Experiential Learning, Bargaining Power, and Exclusivity in Technology Licensing

Theodore A. Khoury*, Erin G. Pleggenkuhle-Miles**, Jorge Walter***

* Portland State University, **University of Nebraska Omaha, ***The George Washington University

Licensing has become the central form of interfirm technology transfer and commercialization in the market for inventions. However, despite the large representation and growth of this business model, the resolution of key contractual provisions is still regarded as idiosyncratic, and little is known about how experience with prior relationships or bargaining power position affects contract outcomes. In an attempt to further understand how these transactions unfold, we present and test a theoretical framework disentangling experience benefits and transaction costs associated with licensors’ prior involvement in out- versus in-licensing deals and how they affect the important, yet contentious, contractual provision of nonexclusivity. Drawing on transaction cost, experiential learning, and bargaining power theories, we develop new insights explaining when licensors are likely to realize nonexclusive contracts as a function of their prior licensing deals, and when bargaining power moderates the relationships between prior deals and nonexclusivity. Leveraging a 27-year sample of bioscience licensing transactions, this study reveals the dynamic tension between the benefits and transaction costs arising from prior interfirm collaborations, and how a firm’s history of collaborations, alongside its bargaining power position, influences contractual outcomes.

Keywords: transaction costs; bargaining power; technology licensing; interfirm alliances; experiential learning; nonexclusivity; bioscience industry; perspective-taking

For a copy of this article, please contact me directly.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

posted on Dec 21 2016

...from the Walter family!

Elected to Leadership Position at SMS Strategy Process IG

posted on Dec 05 2016

Thanks to the members of the Strategy Process Interest Group (IG) of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) for electing me as the incoming Associate Program Chair! This is a three-year rotation leading to Program Chair (in 2018) and IG Chair (in 2019). I look forward to working in this capacity with Nacho & Dries and the other SMS Officers.

For more information on the Strategy Process IG, click here.

Joined the Journal of Management Studies Editorial Board

posted on Oct 27 2016

I gladly accepted an invitation by the editor of the Journal of Management Studies, Prof. Dries Faems, to join the editorial board of the journal.

Please check JOM's website for more information.

Back to School 2016!

posted on Sep 05 2016

So proud of you guys and all the best for your new school year!

2016 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

posted on Aug 09 2016

This year's Academy of Management Annual Meeting took place from August 5-9 in Anaheim, CA, where we presented our paper:

"Before they were ties: Predicting the value of brand–new connections," co-authored with Daniel Levin (Rutgers University) & J. Keith Murnighan (Northwestern University),

which was also included in the MOC Best Paper Proceedings.

I further received the Above and Beyond the Call of Duty (ABCD) Award of the Organization and Management Theory Division.

For more information, check the AOM Website.

End of Swim Season 2016

posted on Aug 01 2016

So proud of our two swimmers who just finished their 2016 season--Max as the youngest Stingray and Sophia as a 2016 Colonial Swimming League All Star (for Breast Stroke and Individual Medley)!

New Article Forthcoming in Strategy Science

posted on Jun 07 2016

New article conditionally accepted in Strategy Science:

Formal and informal controls as complements or substitutes? The role of the task environment

Markus Kreutzer*, Laura B. Cardinal**, Jorge Walter***, & Christoph Lechner****

* European Business School, **University of South Carolina, ***The George Washington University, **** University of St. Gallen

The traditional view of control in organizations largely implies an “either-or” substitution logic, as opposed to the complementarity logic implied in the more recent view of control. This study examines whether formal and informal controls complement or substitute each other in their influence on performance outcomes, and whether such an interaction differs for more or less exploratory tasks. Our findings from an analysis of 184 strategic initiative teams in a cross-industry multi-country sample of firms support the complementary view. More specifically, we find support for our hypotheses that the combined use of formal and informal control has a positive impact on the performance of initiative teams, and that this complementary effect is more pronounced when the degree of exploration is lower. Accordingly, our study contributes to the organizational control literature both theoretically—by providing an explicit theoretical rationale for the complementary view—and empirically—by virtue of providing an empirical test of the interactive effects of formal and informal control.

Keywords: Control theory, informal organizational control, complementarity, strategic initiative teams, degree of exploration

For a copy of this article, please contact me directly.

SMS Meeting in Rome

posted on Jun 07 2016

Just attended the Strategic Management Society Meeting in Rome to plan the upcoming conference in Berlin as an Executive Discoveries Series Coordinator. Thanks to Niko Pelka from SMS for this great opportunity to be involved in putting together the program for an SMS Annual International Conference!

Paper included in AOM Best Paper Proceedings

posted on Mar 27 2016

A new research project I'm involved in will be included in the Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management Meeting, this time for the 2016 Meeting in Anaheim, CA:

Before they were ties: Predicting the value of brand-new connections

Daniel Z. Levin*, Jorge Walter**, & J. Keith Murnighan***

* Rutgers University, ** The George Washington University, *** Northwestern University

The vast majority of research on the value of social or professional relationships has focused on ties that already exist. We ask if it is possible to predict in advance—before people ever meet—which brand-new ties will yield more value in the form of useful work-related knowledge. We examine this question using three perspectives: the resource (actor) perspective, the relational (tie) perspective, and the network (structure) perspective. To test our predictions, we asked 150 executives to reach out for work-related advice from someone they had never met, and to complete a survey of their thoughts and judgments of the other person both before and after making a connection. Controlling for the effects of homophily, we find support for all three perspectives after a connection has been made, i.e., once there is already an existing tie. However, before tie formation—our focus in this paper—we find evidence only for the network perspective, in the form of either bonding or bridging. Our results suggest that the lack of reliable information about strangers—especially their likely relational or resource qualities—makes it difficult to predict which ties will turn out to be more valuable, but that an existing network structure remains a reliable predictor of value, even for brand-new ties.

Keywords: Social networks, social capital, new ties, tie formation, knowledge transfer, advice seeking

For a copy of this paper, please contact me directly.

Happy Easter!

posted on Mar 25 2016

...from the Walter family!

Odyssey of the Mind

posted on Mar 14 2016

Our team scored 3rd place in their division in this year's Odyssey of the Mind tournament!

Congratulations to our team! All your hard work over the last few months really paid off!

Nominated for Peter B. Vaill Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award

posted on Mar 09 2016

I have just received notice from the GWSB Doctoral Student Association that I have been nominated for this year's Peter B. Vaill Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award!

This represents my fourth nomination in the six years I've been here at GW (including winning this award in 2014). Thanks to our doctoral students for nominating me again!

New Article Published in MIT Sloan Management Review

posted on Mar 03 2016

Happy to share that our new article on reconnecting dormant ties has just appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review.

While our previous research has found that rekindling dormant professional relationships can offer tremendous career benefits to executives, our new study shows that some reconnections are more beneficial than others — and that executives often don’t select the best reconnection choices.

In particular, reconnecting with long-lost or dormant contacts can be very valuable — both professionally and personally. But choosing from among hundreds of former contacts can be challenging. We find that executives, when left to their own devices, don’t take full advantage of their opportunities to reconnect. And when they do reconnect, they tend to focus on comfort and not on re-connections that might offer the best advice.

To get the most out of reconnecting, however, you have to seek out former contacts who are likely to engage with you and to provide you with novelty. To achieve more novelty, this may mean going outside your usual comfort zone and reaching out to higher-status people or to people you didn’t know very well to begin with. But these are exactly the kinds of reconnections that can best point you in a new direction, tell you something you don’t already know, and help you make the most of dormant connections in your network.

Read the full article here.

Ave Tucker Fellowship

posted on Jan 02 2016

Thrilled to share that I have recently been awarded a two-year Ave Tucker Fellowship at George Washington University's School of Business.

Named after George Washington University's Board of Trustee member Avram S. Tucker, this fellowship recognizes faculty members who "displayed good teaching performance, as well as recent scholarly productivity, prospects for continued publications in top outlets, and records of research leadership and mentoring of junior scholars."

Thanks to the Executive Committee for bestowing this great honor on me!

Holidays in Colorado

posted on Dec 26 2015

Following an invitation from our friends who are spending their sabbatical in Frisco, CO, we spent the holidays skiing in the Colorado mountains.

Thanks to Jennifer & Jorge for making this unforgettable trip happen!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

posted on Dec 17 2015

...from the Walter Family!

Loudoun Soccer Season Fall 2015

posted on Oct 24 2015

Thanks to Loudoun Soccer and my co-coaches for another great soccer season for our team!

2015 SMS Annual International Conference

posted on Oct 05 2015

This year's Strategic Management Society's Annual International Conference took place in Denver, CO, and Stefan Haefliger and I chaired a Professional Development Workshop titled "Innovation & network strategy junior faculty and paper development workshop."

For more information, check the SMS Website.

2015 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

posted on Aug 11 2015

This year's Academy of Management Annual Meeting took place from August 7-11 in Vancouver, BC, where I presented our paper:

"Antecedents and outcomes of peer control: A multi-level analysis," co-authored with Markus Kreutzer (University of St. Gallen and EBS Business School) & Karin Kreutzer (EBS Business School).

For the second year in a row, I also received the Outstanding Reviewer Award for the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management.

For more information, check the AOM Website.

Research Talk at City University London

posted on Jun 04 2015

This week, I also accepted an invitation to present our paper "Antecedents and outcomes of peer control: A multi-level analysis" (co-authored with Markus & Karin Kreutzer) at Cass Business School, City University London.

Thanks to Stefan Haefliger for his kind invitation and for hosting me in this fantastic city, and to the Cass faculty members and doctoral students for their helpful comments on our paper.

EBS Offsite Doctoral Workshop

posted on Jun 01 2015

This week, I accepted Markus Kreutzer's kind invitation to join him and his colleagues for the European Business School's Annual Off-Site Doctoral Workshop at Kloster Johannisberg in the beautiful Rhine Valley.

Besides the inevitable sightseeing and wine tasting, I learned a lot about the impressive research the EBS doctoral students are conducting. So thanks for having me!

SMS Special Conference in St. Gallen

posted on May 28 2015

The back end of my sabbatical in Europe is getting busier: I just spent the last two days in St. Gallen to attend a Special Conference of the Strategic Management Society on the topic "Rethinking Corporate Headquarters: Innovative Approaches for Managing the Multi-Divisional Firm." I also served as a panel member for the doctoral/junior faculty workshop organized by Matthias Brauer & Tina Ambos.

New Article Forthcoming in Organization Science

posted on Apr 30 2015

New Article provisionally accepted in Organization Science:

Reconnection choices: Selecting the most valuable (versus most preferred) dormant ties

Jorge Walter*, Daniel Z. Levin**, & J. Keith Murnighan***

* The George Washington University, ** Rutgers University, *** Northwestern University

Recent research has shown that reconnecting long-lost, dormant ties can yield tremendous value, often more than active ties. Yet two key research questions remain unanswered: which of a person’s many dormant ties provide the most value, and which are advice seekers most inclined to choose as reconnection targets? In the current study, we asked executives to seek advice on an important work project from two dormant ties (their first, most preferred choice plus one selected randomly from their next nine most preferred choices) and to respond to surveys before and after their reconnections. This two-stage design allowed us to make causal inferences about the executives’ advice-seeking preferences and the value of reconnecting certain types of dormant ties. Our results show that the most valuable reconnections are to people who provide novelty (by not having spent much time together in the past and being higher status) as well as engagement (by being trustworthy and willing to help). Our executive participants, however, preferred neither novelty nor engagement. Rather, the prospect of reconnecting can make people feel anxious. To avoid this discomfort, executives preferred contacts with whom they had spent a lot of time together in the past, thereby actually reducing novelty. Thus, our findings identify critical biases in executives’ reconnection preferences as well as insights into how to make more effective reconnections. Our discussion presents broader implications of these findings for advice seeking and social networks.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer, interpersonal ties, social exchange

For a copy of this article, please contact me directly.

Research Talk at Tilburg University

posted on Apr 17 2015

This week, I also visited Tilburg University to present our paper "Prior experience, bargaining power, and exclusivity in technology licensing agreements" (co-authored with Ted Khoury & Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles).

My gratitude to Nufer Ates for kindly hosting me during my visit and to all faculty members and doctoral students for their insightful feedback on our study!

Research Talk at Erasmus University Rotterdam

posted on Apr 16 2015

Just came back from a visit to Rotterdam, where I presented our new working paper on "Antecedents and outcomes of peer control: A multi-level analysis" (co-authored with Markus & Karin Kreutzer) at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University.

Thanks to my host, Murat Tarakci, for making this happen and to all the brown bag participants for their great feedback on our study!

Executive MBA in St. Gallen

posted on Mar 10 2015

Just returned from teaching my first Executive MBA seminar at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides feeling nostalgic about returning to my Alma Mater after more than 10 years, I was very impressed with the university's executive education program as well as with the qualifications, experience, and interest of the attending executives.

Many thanks to my former doctoral adviser, Günter Müller-Stewens, for inviting me and to the executives for having me. I look forward to coming back next week for my second seminar.

Research Talk at University of Lausanne

posted on Mar 04 2015

Today, I gave an invited research talk on our paper "Prior experience, bargaining power, and exclusivity in technology licensing agreements" (with Ted Khoury and Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles) to the Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC) at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

I had a great time in this beautiful part of Switzerland and also received some very insightful feedback on our paper.

Thanks to Xavier Castañer for his kind invitation and to Déborah Philippe who kindly hosted me during my visit!

Skiing in the Swiss Alps

posted on Feb 22 2015

My family, parents, and I just spent three nights in the Swiss Alps, in the same village I spent my Easter and Christmas holidays as a child. Sophia and Max loved it--and became quite impressive skiers, as did Erin...

Sabbatical Abroad

posted on Feb 01 2015

Very excited to start my six-months sabbatical, particularly since it brings me and my family to Europe. For the next four months, we will be based in Munich, Germany, from where I will travel throughout Europe to visit universities, meet with colleagues, and present my current and develop new research projects, while the kids learn German and get immersed in the local culture and lifestyle...

New Article Forthcoming in Group & Organization Management

posted on Jan 26 2015

New Article Forthcoming in Group & Organization Management:

Relational enhancement: How the relational dimension of social capital unlocks the value of network-bridging ties

Daniel Z. Levin*, Jorge Walter**, Melissa M. Appleyard***, & Rob Cross****

* Rutgers University, ** The George Washington University, *** Portland State University, **** University of Virginia

We propose and test a novel approach to the dilemma that the very network-bridging structure most likely to provide access to novel knowledge may be ill-suited for the cooperation needed to successfully transfer that knowledge. We theorize that the relational dimension of social capital (e.g., tie strength) can act as a substitute for the structural benefits of network closure, and so a network-bridging tie yields more value when it is also strong. We further investigate if it is emotional closeness, interaction frequency, or trust that underlies this “relational enhancement” effect; our results identify the key mechanism as trust.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer, social capital, structural holes, tie strength, trust

For a copy of this article, please contact me directly.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...

posted on Dec 15 2014

...from the Walter family!

Elected Representative-at-Large at SMS Strategy Process IG

posted on Dec 02 2014

Thanks to the members of the Strategy Process Interest Group (IG) of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) for electing me as one of three new Representatives-at-Large!

For more information on the Strategy Process IG, click here.

NYC Networking Trek

posted on Oct 24 2014

Just returned from this year's GWSB New York City Networking Trek with our undergraduate students. It was a great experience for both students and faculty, so thanks to Associate Dean Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou for her kind invitation!

2014 SMS Annual International Conference

posted on Sep 20 2014

This year's Strategic Management Society's Annual International Conference took place in Madrid, Spain, and we presented our paper

"Formal and informal controls as complements or substitutes? The role of the task environment" with Markus Kreutzer (University of St. Gallen),

which was also nominated for the Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Price Award, the Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper for Practice Implications Award, and was a Finalist for the Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper of the Strategy Process Interest Group. For more information, check the SMS Website.

First Day of School

posted on Sep 02 2014

Note Max's future plans ;-)

2014 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

posted on Aug 06 2014

This year's Academy of Management Annual Meeting took place from August 1-5 in Philadelphia, PA. Under the conference theme "The Power of Words," my colleagues and I presented our paper (which was also included in the BPS Best Paper Proceedings):

"Formal and informal controls as complements or substitutes? The role of the task environment," with Markus Kreutzer (University of St. Gallen) & Laura Cardinal (University of Houston).

Moreover, I received the Outstanding Reviewer Award for the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management.

For more information, check the AOM Website.

Weltmeister!

posted on Jul 13 2014

It's been 24 years since Germany last won the soccer world championship. The year was 1990, only months after the Berlin Wall came down, and I was in 8th grade. It was about time our boys won the title again. And they did in a truly amazing tournament!

New Article Forthcoming in the Strategic Management Journal

posted on Jun 14 2014

New Article Forthcoming in the Strategic Management Journal:

Organizational control as antidote to politics in the pursuit of strategic initiatives

Markus Kreutzer*, Jorge Walter**, & Laura B. Cardinal***

* University of St. Gallen, ** The George Washington University, *** University of Houston

In contrast to the contingency approach advanced by most prior work, we suggest a complementary perspective on organizational control and its relationship with performance. We argue that the simultaneous use of behavior and outcome control capitalizes on their respective advantages, and is therefore more effective than a sole reliance on either control. Moreover, with organizational control seeking alignment between individual and organizational goals, the benefits of such a complementary approach may be more pronounced in a context characterized by high levels of organizational politics, or the pursuit of individual at the expense of organizational goals. Our analysis of strategic initiatives pursued by 184 European corporations provides support for both a complementary approach to organizational control and a contingency effect of organizational politics.

Keywords: Control theory, organizational control, organizational politics, strategic initiatives, strategy process

For a copy of this article, please see here or contact me directly.

Easter Greetings

posted on Apr 20 2014

From the Walter family!

Peter B. Vaill Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award

posted on Apr 08 2014
I just received notice that, after being nominated twice (in 2011 and 2013), I was awarded the 2014 Peter B. Vaill Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award by the Doctoral Student Association of the School of Business of The George Washington University.

A sincere thanks to the doctoral students for this honor. I look forward to many more opportunities to engage with the GWSB doctoral program...

Paper included in AOM Best Paper Proceedings

posted on Mar 28 2014

A new research project I'm involved in will be included in the Best Paper Proceedings of the Academy of Management Meeting, this time for the 2014 Meeting in my wife's hometown Philadelphia, PA:

Formal and informal controls as complements or substitutes? The role of the task environment

Markus Kreutzer*, Laura Cardinal**, Jorge Walter***, & Christoph Lechner*

* University of St. Gallen, ** University of Houston, *** The George Washington University

This study contrasts the substitution logic advanced by the traditional organizational control view with the complementarity logic inherent in the more recent, holistic organizational control view. In particular, we examine whether formal and informal behavior and outcome controls act as complements or substitutes for each other in their influence on performance outcomes, and whether any such interaction will be stable across different organizational contexts or subject to contextual contingencies. Our empirical findings from an analysis of 184 strategic initiatives conducted by firms across a variety of industries provide broad support for the holistic view and the positive impact of a complementary use of formal and informal behavior control as well as formal and informal outcome control on initiative performance. While the former is stable for all degrees of exploration, the latter is more pronounced in the context of lower degrees of exploration. Our study thus contributes to a more nuanced understanding of organizational control.

Keywords: Control theory, organizational control, informal control, complementarity, strategic initiatives, degree of exploration

For a copy of this paper, please contact me directly.

Odyssey of the Mind Tournament

posted on Mar 15 2014

Like all good things, this year's Odyssey of the Mind has come to an end. But what an end it was! Our team gave an awesome performance at today's tournament! The kids were truly at their best and they simply blew the judges away. As their coaches, Sam and I are really proud of our team and all that the kids have accomplished..

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

posted on Dec 25 2013

From the Walter Family

New Article Forthcoming in Personnel Psychology

posted on Dec 12 2013

New Article Forthcoming in Personnel Psychology:

Deeds that help and words that hurt: Helping and gossip as moderators of the relationship between leader-member exchange and advice network centrality

Berrin Erdogan*, Talya Bauer*, & Jorge Walter**

* Portland State University, ** The George Washington University

We examine the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and advice network centrality using multi-source data from a sample of 250 retail employees and their respective managers in Turkey to test our hypothesized model of value and costs of being sought out for advice. Drawing upon the tenets of Network Generation Theory (Nebus, 2006), we predict that the tendency of focal actors to help others and their own tendency to gossip would be behavioral moderators of the relationship between LMX quality and their advice network centrality. Consistent with Network Generation Theory, our results reveal that LMX quality is positively related to centrality only for those actors with a high tendency to help coworkers and a low tendency to gossip about coworkers, suggesting that behaviors indicating helpfulness and discretion are necessary for high LMX members to maintain a central position in their work group’s advice network. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: Leader-member exchange (LMX), advice network centrality, helping behaviors, gossip

For a copy of this article, see here or contact me.

Season's Greetings

posted on Dec 06 2013

From the Walter family...

Joined New JOM Editorial Board

posted on Nov 22 2013

I thankfully accepted the invitation by Prof. Mike Wright to join the new editorial board of the Journal of Management (JOM).

Judging from my experience on the previous JOM board, I look forward to working with the new editorial team.

2013 SMS Annual International Conference

posted on Oct 01 2013

This year's Strategic Management Society's Annual International Conference took place in Atlanta, GA, and my colleagues and I presented our paper

"Experience, negotiation leverage, and their effects on exclusivity in technology licensing agreements" with Ted Khoury (Portland State University) & Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles (University of Nebraska at Omaha),

which was also nominated for the Strategic Management Society Best Conference Paper Price. For more information, check the SMS Website.

Anniversary

posted on Sep 05 2013

10 years ago today, a boy met a girl in a bar...

...and the rest is history.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

First Day of School

posted on Sep 03 2013

Have a fantastic year at school, guys--we're so proud of you!

New Article Forthcoming in the Journal of Management

posted on Aug 31 2013

New Article Forthcoming in the Journal of Management:

Learning activities, exploration, and the performance of strategic initiatives

Jorge Walter*, Christoph Lechner**, Franz W. Kellermanns***

* The George Washington University, ** University of St. Gallen, *** University of North Carolina at Charlotte

This study examines the contingent effect of the degree of exploration characterizing strategic initiatives on the relationship between group-level organizational learning activities (i.e., searching, processing, codifying, and practicing) and the performance of strategic initiatives. Results from a sample of 96 strategic initiatives conducted by three large European insurance corporations provide broad, albeit not unanimous, support for our prediction that the four learning activities are more beneficial when the degree of exploration is high. Moreover, for initiatives with lower degrees of exploration, we found no significant association of searching, processing, codifying, or practicing with initiative performance. These findings suggest that effective organizational learning depends not only on investments in learning activities, but also on the alignment between these investments and the degree of exploration inherent in the learning task.

Keywords: Strategic initiatives; group-level organizational learning; degree of exploration

For a copy of this article, please see here or contact me.

Doctoral Seminar at Kennesaw State University

posted on Aug 18 2013

Just returned from teaching a session on "Social Network/Social Capital Theory" in Kennesaw State University's DBA program.

Thanks to Torsten Pieper for inviting me and to the KSU doctoral students for having such an engaged conversation with me on social networks/social capital and research in general.

2013 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

posted on Aug 12 2013

This year's Academy of Management Annual Meeting took place from August 8-13 in Lake Buena Vista, FL. Under the conference theme "Capitalism in Question," my colleagues and I presented in the following sessions:

"Organizational control as an antidote to politics in the pursuit of strategic initiative performance?" with Markus Kreutzer (University of St. Gallen) & Laura Cardinal (University of Houston) and

"Entrepreneurship Division Early Career Development Consortium." Professional Development Workshop organized by Donna DeCarolis (Rutgers University) & Kim Eddleston (Northeastern University).

For more information, check the AOM Website.

Dan Pink's Blog Discusses Dormant Ties Research

posted on Jun 13 2013

Happy to see that our research on Dormant Ties (see posts from March 29, 2011, and August 4, 2010, for details) keeps getting attention from some of the most innovative thinkers in business...

See a recent interview of Adam Grant (Wharton) in Daniel Pink's blog for details.

Presentation at 2013 IRI Diamond Jubilee Meeting

posted on May 21 2013

Today, I had the opportunity to serve as a subject matter expert on the topic "Weak ties and innovation" at the Industrial Research Institute’s Diamond Jubilee Meeting here in Washington, DC. It was a great experience interacting with this audience of high-caliber R&D managers from a wide variety of industry and government, and I hope to continue this dialogue, perhaps in the form of a joint research project, in the future.

Thanks to Natalie Schoch (Kellogg Company), Leonard Huskey (US Army Research Laboratory), and Robert McNamee (Temple University) for their generous invitation!

For more information, check the IRI Website.

GWSB Commencement 2013

posted on May 17 2013

Congratulations to our students and good luck for all your future endeavors!

"Sweet" Thank You

posted on Apr 24 2013

Thanks to my students from Delta Sigma Pi for nominating me!

Paper nominated for SMS Best Conference Paper Award

posted on Apr 15 2013

Just received notice that one of our submissions to this year's SMS Conference has received a nomination for the SMS Best Conference Paper Award:

Experience, negotiation leverage, and their effects on exclusivity in technology licensing agreements

Theodore A. Khoury*, Jorge Walter**, & Erin G. Pleggenkuhle-Miles***

* Portland State University, ** The George Washington University, *** University of Nebraska at Omaha

Technology licensing represents a complex area of interfirm contracting due to the highly idiosyncratic nature of these transactions. Focusing on the most valuable, yet often contentious, contractual feature in technology licensing transactions—exclusivity—we examine the differential influence of licensors’ prior experience with out-licensing versus in-licensing technologies. Our study builds on foundational transaction-cost research and develops a theoretical framework explaining whether or not licensors are likely to realize non-exclusive deal outcomes as a function of accumulated licensing experience, and when partner- or market-specific conditions dampen or accentuate the effects of such experience. Leveraging a 26-year sample of 2,664 bioscience-licensing transactions and a novel theoretical framework that accounts for the conditions of negotiation leverage within these unique transactions, we examine how exclusivity provisions vary across technology licenses.

Keywords: Technology licensing; licensing experience; exclusivity; transaction costs; partner prominence; strategic alliances; bioscience industry

For a copy of this article, please contact me directly.

2013 Peter B. Vaill Outstanding Doctoral Educator Award Nomination

posted on Apr 09 2013

Thanks to all the doctoral students for nominating me again this year!

Give & Take

posted on Apr 05 2013

Whether or not you're in academia, it is worth reading

Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?,

a fascinating New York Times Magazine article featuring Adam Grant, one of the most prolific professors in management.

Especially rewarding for my co-authors and me is that the article mentions our "Dormant Ties" paper published in 2011 in Organization Science...