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Behavioral strategy, as a cognitive- and social-psychological view on strategic management, has gained increased attention. However, its conceptualization is still fuzzy and deserves an in-depth investigation. The authors aim to provide a holistic overview and classification of previous research and identify gaps to be addressed in future research.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review on behavioral strategy. The final sample includes 46 articles from leading management journals, based on which the authors develop a research framework.

The results reveal cognition and traits as major internal factors. Besides, organizational and environmental contingencies are major external factors of behavioral strategy.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first holistic systematic literature review on behavioral strategy, which categorizes previous research.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of academic research dedicated to the field of Behavioral Strategy. Based on a series of Bibliometric and network analyses, the paper identifies the prominent trend and growth patterns pertaining to the evolution of this important strategic management subfield; it documents which particular journals, articles and authors have most influenced its development, and it maps the intellectual structure and network of authors, publications and countries. Finally, the paper considers the substantive research themes emerging from the analyses reported, in terms of their implications for future work.

The authors undertook a series of Bibliometric and network analyses of 217 relevant articles, published between 1975 and 2020, in journals listed in the Scopus database, using R-studio and VOSviewer. Articles incorporated in the study were selected based on relevant key terms searched from the title, abstract and list of keywords associated with each publication.

The results demonstrate that behavioral strategy has enjoyed robust and sustained growth, with widespread impact across many areas of the heterogeneous business and management field as a whole. Three distinct periods are identified: an infancy stage (prior to 1999); a steady growth stage (1999–2010); and a take-off stage (2011 onwards). The top three journals in terms of content coverage, based on the number of relevant articles published in relation to behavioral strategy, are Strategic Management Journal, Advances in Strategic Management (AiSM) and the Journal of Management, while the top three most influential journals, in terms of citations pertaining to Behavioral Strategy, based on an analysis of citations in the Scopus database, are Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Perspectives and Journal of Management Studies. Gerard P. Hodgkinson and Thomas C. Powell are the most prolific authors. The emerging themes based on intellectual structures have been identified as Behavioral Strategy, Behavioral Theory of Firm; Strategic Leadership and Dynamic Capabilities; and Strategic Cognition and Decision Making.

The study contributes to knowledge advancement concerning Behavioral Strategy by opening new possibilities to discover important research areas.

The study is the first of its kind on Behavioral Strategy providing a comprehensive systematic literature review.

A decade after Powell et al.’s (2011) seminal article on behavioral strategy, which called for models to solve real-world problems, the authors revisit the field to ask whether behavioral strategy is coming of age. The purpose of this paper is to explain how behavioral strategy can and has been used in real-world settings.

This study presents a conceptual review with case study examples of the impact of behavioral strategy on real-world problems.

This study illustrates several examples where behavioral strategy debiasing has been effective. Although no causal claims can be made, with the stark contrast between the negative impact of biased strategies and the positive results emerging from debiasing techniques, this study argues that there is evidence of the benefits of a behavioral strategy mindset, and that this should be the mindset of a responsible strategic leader.

This study presents a demonstration of analytical, debate and organizational debiasing techniques and how they are being used in real-world settings, specifically military intelligence, Mergers and acquisitions deal-making, resource allocation and capital projects.

Behavioral strategy has broad application in private and public sectors. It has proven practical value in various settings, for example, the application of reference class forecasting in large infrastructure projects.

A conceptual review of behavioral strategy in the wild.

This paper aims to explore the relevance of bounded rationality to the practice of institutional investors in Malaysia. Understanding institutional investor behavior is important, as it can determine the asset prices and consequently the market behavior.

A set of questionnaires is used to solicit information regarding the understanding and practical application of behavioral finance theories and strategies among fund managers in the Malaysian investment management practice. In the process, bounded rational theory is aimed to be validated. Fund managers’ possible bounded rational behavior is assessed with reference to their investment management approaches and strategies right from individual beliefs and acquisition of information, as well as investment management and strategies used.

The findings lend support to the notion that institutional investors too, being normal human beings, are expected to think and behave in a boundedly rational manner as postulated in bounded rational theory. The sources of bounded rationality are individual, institutional and social forces. Thus, portfolio trading and investment management strategies are exposed to wide varieties of behavioral risks. Despite the notions that behavioral risks are real and the impact on fund performance could be pervasive, fund managers’ self-awareness regarding control and institutional readiness to govern behavioral risks in investment practices is still low.

Empirical evidence drawn in the current paper is subjected to small sample size and specific focus on Malaysian context. Despite this limitation, the sample is statistically sufficient and provides a fair representation, as well as quality opinions, of fund manager’s investment management behavior in Malaysia. This research provides valuable implications to practitioners (fund managers) and regulators (investment management and capital market policymakers). In practice, the current study draws some practical ideas, especially for buy-side institutional investors, on the source and impact of behavioral biases on fund management practices and performance. For regulators, this research highlighted the needs and possible ways to regulate these behavioral risks.

The current paper provides new insights on the theory and practice of the institutional investor. In theory, this research provides evidence of bounded rationality of institutional investor behavior, practicing in the asset management industry in the emerging markets of Malaysia. This evidence lends support to the validity of the bounded rationality theory in explaining institutional investor behavior. In practice, thisresearch provides new insights on the relevance of behavioral finance perspectives and strategies in the asset management industry practice and policy.

How can a manager lead an organization or a team in a particularly turbulent time? How can management cope with chaos and uncertainty? Drawing on behavioral strategy theory, this study aims at investigating how hubristic managers can enable organizations to thrive, even over small time periods, in chaotic and uncertain contexts and settings.

This study uses a qualitative methodology to explore the possible positive effects of hubris in a behavioral strategy. In particular, 45 interviews with leaders and followers of particularly high-performing secondary schools have been administered to try to fully understand the origin, process and performance evolution of organizations led by hubristic managers.

The results showed that, in chaotic and uncertain times, hubris can prove to be a trump card for managers in dealing with the pitfalls and uncertainties of the context in which the organization operates. Three major attributes were identified – overconfidence and over-persistence, recklessness and contempt for critical feedback – defining the positive behavioral strategies implemented by hubristic managers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to highlight, by means of qualitative methodologies, the positive managerial hubristic-behavioral strategy during turbulent times in the school sector.

The behavioral framework presents a logic for understanding the relationships between characteristics of the organization and the HRM system. Drawing on this logic to connect the broader management oriented area of strategy with HRM, a micro-level lens is used to examine how competitive strategies and human resource (HR) practice subsystems cohere to influence employees' role behaviors and performance outcomes.

Online survey data were collected from 301 employees working in the retail trade and hospitality segments of New Zealand's service industry.

Relationships represented in the behavioral model are supported. Specifically, this study finds identifiable differences between the types of HR practices employed and the competitive strategy followed by an organization. Distinguishable sets of HR practices could also be connected to discernible employee role behaviors, which in turn, were related to strategically-aligned performance outcomes. Some commonality in these relationships were evident however.

HR practitioners need to be cognizant of their organization's competitive strategy and ensure the design and messages sent by their HRM system supports the realization of desirable employee role behaviors that promote organizational success. This alignment is supported with job descriptions that clearly articulate to prospective employees the role behaviors required, along with screening processes that support this assessment.

This descriptive, exploratory study presenting data about the alignment between competitive strategies, HR practices, behavioral and performance outcomes contributes to our understanding of contingency arguments and employees' experiences and reactions to HRM. Moreover, by adopting a particularistic focus, this research is able to highlight the salient role of context in SHRM research.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the direct and moderating effect of negative affectivity (NA) (Study 1) and self‐efficacy (Study 2) on the relationship between customer verbal aggression and three forms of emotion‐focused coping strategies: behavioral disengagement, seeking emotional support, and venting negative emotions.

Two samples of service workers were recruited from northern Israel in 2007‐2008 (n=178 and n=516), and data were collected using self‐reported questionnaires. Research hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analyses.

The results show that under high levels of exposure to customer aggression, employees with high NA were more likely to use behavioral disengagement than low‐NA individuals, employees with low NA were less likely to vent negative emotions than high‐NA individuals, and employees with high self‐efficacy were less likely to use venting and emotional support than employees with low self‐efficacy. In addition, self‐efficacy was found to reduce the negative impact of customer aggression on emotional exhaustion.

Through appropriate training programs, service organizations can foster their employees' sense of trust in their own ability to cope with customer misbehavior and consequently reduce reliance on dysfunctional coping strategies.

While it has been established that verbal abuse from customers constitutes a common experience for many service workers, little is known about the manner in which workers cope with this particular job stressor and even less about the individual differences that may explain coping behaviors in this context. The present paper begins to bridge this gap and contributes to existing literature by showing that in addition to being predictors of dysfunctional coping strategies, both NA and self‐efficacy may play a moderating role in the relationship between customer aggression and coping behaviors.

This study aims to innovate by investigating the effects of goal orientations on informal learning strategies and whether intrinsic motivation mediates the relation between those two constructs.

To address these aims, the author relied on a quantitative study and on structural equation modeling to evaluate the relationships prescribed by the research model. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 244 bank managers from Brazilian banks.

Results show that mastery goal orientation positively relate with both informal cognitive and behavioral learning strategies in the workplace.

This paper has contributed to the discussion concerning the effects of goal orientations on managers’ informal learning strategies, complementing previous research on the antecedents of informal learning.

Negotiators are offered limited advice on how to overcome adverse events. Drawing on resilience and coping literatures, this study aims to test the impact of three cognitive processing strategies on negotiators’ subjective and economic value following adversity.

Participants completed two negotiations with the same partner. The difficulty of the first negotiation was manipulated and tested how cognitive processing of this experience influenced subjective and economic outcomes in the second negotiation.

Subjective and economic outcomes were predicted by negotiators’ affect, their cognitive processing strategy and negotiation difficulty. In difficult negotiations, as positive affect increased, proactive processing decreased self-satisfaction. As negative affect increased, affective processing increased satisfaction with relationship and process.

Cognitive processing of adversity is most effective when emotions are not running high and better able to protect relationship- and process-oriented satisfaction than outcome-oriented satisfaction. The findings apply to one specific type of adversity and to circumstances that do not generate strong emotions.

This research tests which of three cognitive processing strategies is best able to prevent the aftermath of a difficult negotiation from spilling over into subsequent negotiations. Two forms of proactive processing are more effective than immersive processing in mitigating the consequences.