Functional background as a determinant of executives' selective perception

What executives perceive influences their actions. These actions in turn affect the nature and performance of their organizations. Thus, what executives perceive is of interest to organizational scientists, to strategic management researchers, and to organizational stakeholders. The results of the field study reported here indicate that, contrary to popular belief, functional area work experience has no effect on which changes top executives perceive in their organizations' environments. Functional background, however, does not have an effect on which changes they perceive in their organizations' effectiveness. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)