Business Commons^™

Organizational Configurations And Performance: A Meta-Analysis, David J. Ketchen, James G. Combs, Craig J. Russell, Chris Shook, Michelle A. Dean, Janet Runge, Franz T. Lohrke, Stefanie E. Naumann, Dawn Ebe Haptonstahl, Robert Baker, Brenden A. Beckstein, Charles Handler, Heather Honig, Stephen Lamoureux

Eberhardt School of Business Faculty Articles

The link between organizational configurations and performance has become a central and somewhat controversial focus of research in the strategic management literature. We statistically aggregated results from 40 original tests of the configurations-performance relationship. In contrast to previous qualitative reviews, this meta-analysis demonstrated that an organization's performance is partially explained by its configuration. Tests of four potential moderators showed that organizations' configurations contributed more to performance explanation to the extent that studies used (1) broad definitions of configurations, (2) single-industry samples, and (3) longitudinal designs. Results highlight the need for programmatic research.