Calibrating integration : studies on status, culture, knowledge and cooperation in acquisitions

Sammanfattning: Acquisitions represent a common modus operandi of firm growth. Notwithstanding their lasting popularity, the majority of deals are reported to be unsuccessful. Given their prevalence and practical relevance, acquisitions have attracted scholarly interest from diverse academic disciplines and traditions. Despite the extensive volume of the acquisition literature, some intriguing questions remain unanswered and some essential assumptions remain untested. This dissertation seeks to explore several of these unanswered questions: What determines “us versus them” type of thinking in acquisitions? What influences social preferences, willingness to learn and the type and degree of trust in acquisitions? What roles do culture, organizational identity and status play in this regard? Shall we expect differences to be problematic all the time? Could it be the case that cultural differences sometimes lead to positive perceptions and reactions among individuals involved in acquisitions?  Motivated by these questions and many others, this dissertation primarily looks at the human side of acquisitions, and, in so doing, it problematizes the sociocultural dynamics during the initial phases of the post-acquisition process. Building on theories of social-psychology and utilizing experimental designs, the dissertation consists of three theoretical and three empirical papers, which address the aforementioned questions. The theoretical arguments and the empirical findings reported in this dissertation suggest that status differences between acquiring and acquired firms have discernable effects on key sociocultural integration outcomes like trust, social preferences, organizational commitment and knowledge transfer. Taken together, the arguments raised and results reported in this dissertation point out the important, yet hitherto relatively neglected, role of status in acquisitions, and in other similar inter-organizational modes.