The Upper Echelons Perspective 40 Years Later: Revisiting Its Core Premise

Abstract

The authors examine whether support for a core premise of the Upper Echelons Perspective (UEP) - that top executives’ experiences, values, and personalities shape their interpretations of strategic situations, influence how they react, and ultimately produce organizations that become a reflection of their leaders – has endured the forty years since the theory first appeared. They assess this premise within one of the UEP’s founding research streams, the relationship between top management team demographic characteristics and strategic change, using replication and meta-analysis. Findings show that a seminal UEP study’s findings could not be replicated, although a meta-analysis mostly showed support for the hypothesized relationships (using 118 samples reporting 33,337 firm-level relationships). The meta-analysis further revealed that findings are contingent upon how the team is measured and the study periods. Overall, the UEP’s core premise appears durable within one of its early research literatures, but limits to its external validity and robustness are emerging. Revisions to the UEP’s logic and structure are offered.