Top managers have been an area of active research in strategic
management. The difficulty in accessing top manager has limited
researchers to focusing on top managers demographic characteristics to
explore their influence on organizational outcomes. These demographic
characteristics have been considered as surrogates of top managers
cognition. However this approach has critical limitations (Markoczy,
1997), and a cognitive approach will enhance our understanding of top
managers influence on the organization. Recognizing this issue, I
propose a cognitive approach to top management research. Specifically,
top managers efficacy beliefs are conceptualized based on Social
Cognitive Theory. Further, I develop several propositions on the effects
of top manager efficacy beliefs on organizational outcomes
