Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Abstract
Dynamic capabilities and associated shifts in learning make firm's capabilities hard to imitate, and are critical in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, strategic management literature has recognized that the presence of causal ambiguity plays a pivotal role in generating inter-firm differences in obtained rents. At the same time, causal ambiguity may hamper internal diffusion of capabilities within the firm negatively affecting its performance (Szulanki, 1996). Overall, the relationship between dynamic capabilities, causal ambiguity and firm performance has remained poorly understood. In this study, we seek to address this gap by developing a causal model that depicts how management perceptions of causal ambiguity mediate the effects of the firm's competencies on firm performance. Using data from collected from 401 Chilean managers we analyze the managers' perceptions of causal ambiguity on firms' performance by controlling for market turbulence and the company size. Our findings confirm the critical role of manager's perceptions of causal ambiguity as a mediator between organizational competencies and performance. Surprisingly, we found a weak influence of perception's of causal ambiguity among rivals as a mechanism to protect inter-firm imitation.
Keywords
organizational behavior, causal ambiguity, firm performance, resource-based theory, competitive advantage, transfers of competencies, imitation
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Araya, Richard I., "Causal Ambiguity and Its Impacts on Firm Performance" (2010). Student Scholarship. 132.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/132
