Upper Echelons Theory

Foundational strategic-leadership theory (Hambrick & Mason, 1984) holding that organizational outcomes — strategic choices, performance, change — are partial reflections of the cognitions, values, and experiences of the executives who make them, rather than of the organization acting as a unified rational agent. It is the explicit theoretical scaffold Wangrow, Schepker & Barker (2022) cite for why CEO succession alone is an incomplete account of "leadership change": the theory predicts that which executives are in the room, not just who occupies the top seat, is what should shape strategic outcomes — the premise motivating their test of TMT replacement as a mediator between succession and strategic change.

References

• claim-tmt-replacement-mediation-is-conditional-on-succession-antecedent-type
• Captures: 10-inbox/raw/2026-08-01-verify-against-wangrow-schepker-barker-2022-full-text.md