Scholars@Duke
Sim B. Sitkin

Sim B. Sitkin

Michael W. Krzyzewski University Distinguished Professor in Leadership
Fuqua School of Business
sim.sitkin@duke.edu
Box 90120, Durham, NC 27708-0120
A216 Fuqua Sch of Bus, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Rethinking Control and Trust Dynamics in and between Organizations

Journal Article Journal of Management Studies · December 1, 2023 Control and trust issues are at the heart of collaboration in and between organizations. In this introduction to the Special Issue (SI) on the control-trust dynamics, we first propose an integrative framework to take stock of the main themes discussed in b ... Full text Cite

Contradictions that erode institutional trust & opportunities for addressing them

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · October 1, 2023 In this article, we identify institutional contradictions as a central challenge that institutions must address to develop and maintain stakeholder trust. Institutional contradictions occur when institutions present stakeholders with inconsistent or confli ... Full text Cite

Stretch goals have enduring appeal, but are the right organisations using them?

Journal Article BMJ leader · May 2023 BackgroundThe healthcare industry faces significant challenges and opportunities that demand lofty aspirations and novel approaches. Pursuing seemingly impossible goals, popularly known as 'stretch goals', can be a way to instigate dramatic change ... Full text Cite

Editors’ note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · April 1, 2023 Full text Cite

LEADERSHIP STYLES: A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT AND WAY FORWARD

Journal Article Academy of Management Annals · January 1, 2023 We systematically review eight positive (authentic, charismatic, consideration and initiating structure, empowering, ethical, instrumental, servant, and transformational leadership) and two negative leadership styles (abusive supervision and destructive le ... Full text Cite

Walking Our Evidence-Based Talk: The Case of Leadership Development in Business Schools

Journal Article Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies · February 1, 2022 Academics have lamented that practitioners do not always adopt scientific evidence in practice, yet while academics preach evidence-based management (EBM), they do not always practice it. This paper extends prior literature on difficulties to engage in EBM ... Full text Cite

editors’ note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · January 1, 2022 Full text Cite

Editors' note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · January 1, 2021 Full text Cite

Disentangling the process and content of self-awareness: A review, critical assessment, and synthesis

Journal Article Academy of Management Annals · January 1, 2021 Are self-aware leaders more effective? Are self-aware workers more productive and satisfied? Studies of self-awareness, which have been undertaken in a range of fields, have implications for a wide variety of topics in organizational behavior. Yet, this re ... Full text Cite

Learning about scholarship and being a scholar: The courage of foolishness

Conference Research in the Sociology of Organizations · January 1, 2021 James March was a bundle of wisdom and contradiction. Numerous lessons learned from him as a doctoral student have guided the author’s career as a scholar. Using simple models to achieve complex understanding, but also looking for deeper insights rather th ... Full text Cite

Assessing the Control Literature: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Journal Article Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · January 21, 2020 This review provides a comprehensive picture of the range of control influences in organizations. We begin by describing and labeling the various types of control mechanisms and control systems examined in the literature. We then identify several issues in ... Full text Cite

Editors’ note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · January 1, 2020 Cite

From problems to progress: A dialogue on prevailing issues in leadership research

Journal Article Leadership Quarterly · August 1, 2019 This paper presents a dialogue between two scholars who have come to contribute to the leadership literature rather late in their careers and, as such, embody a combined insider/outsider perspective. From this perspective, they raise and discuss various ob ... Full text Cite

Editors’ note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · January 1, 2019 Full text Cite

Control–trust dynamics in organizations: Identifying shared perspectives and charting conceptual fault lines

Journal Article Academy of Management Annals · June 1, 2018 Our review of control–trust research reveals that although scholars have advanced our understanding of these dynamics in significant ways, many important questions remain to be answered about these issues. This article contributes to debates in this domain ... Full text Cite

Risks of addressing vs. ignoring our biggest societal problems: When and how moon shots make sense

Chapter · January 1, 2018 Recent press reports as well as casual observations suggest we have serious societal problems, with most of them being addressed insuciently, or even being ignored. From the almost apocalyptic problems of war and famine in the South Sudan, to the disruptio ... Full text Cite

Editors’ note

Journal Article Behavioral Science and Policy · January 1, 2018 Full text Cite

The genesis of control configurations during organizational founding

Chapter · January 1, 2018 In this chapter, the authors argue that organizational controls are best depicted and studied as sets of control configurations. Concepts from extant control research streams describing basic control elements as well as ideal types of control systems are u ... Full text Cite

The Stretch Goal Paradox

Journal Article HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW · January 1, 2017 Link to item Cite

The stretch goal paradox

Journal Article Harvard Business Review · January 1, 2017 Cite

Implications for future directions in trust research

Book · January 1, 2017 This book’s 31 chapters reflect trust as an important and vibrant field of study, both in terms of what has already been done, but more significantly in the fruitful future research agendas our contributing authors have outlined. The chapters that comprise ... Full text Cite

How controls influence organizational information processing: insights from a computational modeling investigation

Journal Article Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory · August 15, 2015 In this study, we use a series of computational models to investigate an information processing perspective on organizational control use. We evaluate and compare the information processing capabilities of various formal and informal control configurations ... Full text Cite

Distrust in the balance: The emergence and development of intergroup distrust in a court of law

Journal Article Organization Science · January 1, 2015 Despite recent attention to trust, comparatively little is known about distrust as distinct from trust. In this paper, we drew on case study data of a reorganized court of law, where intergroup distrust had grown between judges and administrators, to devel ... Full text Cite

Cultivating Follower Trust: Are All Leader Behaviors Equally Influential?

Journal Article Organization Studies · December 28, 2014 We draw on the relevant extant literatures to examine the pathways to building trust through leader behaviors with three distinct emphases: the leader (personal leadership), the leader-follower relationship (relational leadership), and the situation (conte ... Full text Cite

Denise M. Rousseau, ed.: The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-based Management

Journal Article Administrative Science Quarterly · December 2014 Full text Cite

A critical assessment of charismatic—transformational leadership research: Back to the drawing board?

Journal Article Academy of Management Annals · January 1, 2013 There is a widely shared consensus that charismatic–transformational leadership is a particularly effective form of leadership. In a critical assessment of the state-of-the-science in this area of research, we question the validity of that conclusion. We i ... Full text Cite

Developing team leadership: An interview with coach Mike Krzyzewski

Journal Article Academy of Management Learning and Education · September 1, 2011 Full text Cite

From the guest editors: Teaching leadership - Issues and insights

Journal Article Academy of Management Learning and Education · September 1, 2011 Full text Cite

Trust dynamics in acquisitions: A case survey

Journal Article Human Resource Management · September 1, 2011 Drawing on the organizational trust literature and research on postmerger integration, the authors develop a model that conceptually synthesizes the antecedents and consequences of trust in acquired organizations. The model proposes that the acquiring and ... Full text Cite

The paradox of stretch goals: Organizations in pursuit of the seemingly impossible

Journal Article Academy of Management Review · July 1, 2011 We investigate the organizational pursuit of seemingly impossible goals-commonly known as stretch goals. Building from our analysis of the mechanisms through which stretch goals could influence organizational learning and performance, we offer a contingenc ... Full text Cite

Trust dynamics in acquisitions: The role of relationship history, interfirm distance, and acquirer's integration approach

Journal Article Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions · December 1, 2010 Drawing on the trust literature and research on sociocultural integration in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), we develop a model of the antecedents and consequences of trust dynamics in acquisitions. The model proposes that target firm members' perceptions ... Full text Cite

Control is fundamental

Chapter · January 1, 2010 Organizational control is a fundamental aspect of organizing that has been largely neglected by organizational scholars for several decades. This volume brings together new approaches to organizational control theory and research by a diverse group of scho ... Full text Cite

Organizational control

Book · January 1, 2010 Organization scholars have long acknowledged that control processes are integral to the way in which organizations function. While control theory research spans many decades and draws on several rich traditions, theoretical limitations have kept it from ge ... Full text Cite

Chapter 27: Sense-making in organizational research

Journal Article Research in the Sociology of Organizations · January 1, 2010 Full text Cite

Understanding social capital: In whom do we trust?

Journal Article · December 1, 2009 Cite

Beyond knowledge sharing: Withholding knowledge at work

Journal Article Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management · August 25, 2008 This chapter discusses why employees keep their knowledge to themselves. Despite managers' best efforts, many employees tend to hoard knowledge or are reluctant to share their expertise with coworkers or managers. Although many firms have introduced specia ... Full text Cite

Fairness and other leadership heuristics: A four-nation study

Journal Article European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · June 1, 2008 Leaders' fairness may be just one of several heuristics - cognitive shortcuts - that followers use to decide quickly whether they can rely on a given leader to lead them to ends that are good for the collective, rather than just good for the leader. Other ... Full text Cite

Promoting a more generative and sustainable organizational science

Journal Article Journal of Organizational Behavior · October 1, 2007 Full text Cite

Cognitive underpinnings of institutional persistence and change: A framing perspective

Journal Article Academy of Management Review · January 1, 2006 We integrate the predictions of prospect theory, the threat-rigidity hypothesis, and institutional theory to suggest how patterns of institutional persistence and change depend on whether decision makers view environmental shifts as potential opportunities ... Full text Cite

Managerial trust-building through the use of legitimating formal and informal control mechanisms

Journal Article International Sociology · September 1, 2005 This article examines formal and informal decision criteria used by organizational decision-makers when making potentially controversial, legitimacy-relating decisions that could damage trust. Two experimental studies found consistent patterns of persisten ... Full text Cite

Balancing and rebalancing in the creation and evolution of organizational control

Journal Article Organization Science · January 1, 2004 This research examines data collected as part of a 10-year case study of the creation and evolution of organizational control during organizational founding. Past research has taken a cross-sectional approach to examining control use in mature, stable orga ... Full text Cite

Book Reviews

Journal Article Administrative Science Quarterly · September 2002 Full text Cite

Big-B versus big-O: What is organizational about organizational behavior?

Journal Article Journal of Organizational Behavior · February 1, 2001 This paper is an empirically grounded essay about the current state of organizational behavior (OB) research and productive future directions. We report the results of a survey of OB scholars about the current importance of various research topics and thei ... Full text Cite

Impression management and the use of procedures at the Ritz‐Carlton: Moral standards and dramaturgical discipline

Journal Article Communication Studies · January 1, 2000 This article uses Goffman's work on moral standards and dramaturgical discipline to inform a case study featuring a hotel's procedures for guaranteeing reliable impression management. Through an analysis of archival material and 18 interviews at two sites, ... Full text Cite

Task effectiveness and the implementation of process methods - Organizations in the dual pursuit of control and learning

Conference ADVANCES IN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES OF WORK TEAMS, VOL 5 - 2000 · January 1, 2000 Link to item Cite

Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust

Journal Article Academy of Management Review · December 1, 1998 Full text Cite

Acquisition decision-making processes: The central role of risk

Journal Article Journal of Management · December 1, 1996 This paper builds upon the work of organizational and strategic management scholars who have conceptualized acquisitions as decision-making processes. We suggest that behavioral concepts of risk, specifically decision-maker risk perceptions and propensitie ... Full text Cite

On the Positive Effect of Legalization on Trust

Journal Article Research on Negotiation in Organizations · 1995 Cite

The Legalistic organization

Book · 1994 In this volume, a multidisciplinary group of scholars investigate the changing attitudes towards management decisions in today's workplace. ... Cite

Law without justice: The dilemmas of formalization and fairness in the legalistic organization

Journal Article Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal · December 1, 1993 There is growing evidence of a "litigation mentality" rampant in organizations, which has created a legalistic mindset in many managers. Increasingly, managerial decisions are becoming dominated by a concern for what is legally defensible at the expense of ... Full text Cite

Legalistic organizational responses to catastrophic illness: The effect of stigmatization on reactions to HIV/AIDS

Journal Article Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal · December 1, 1993 The HIV/AIDS epidemic has focused increased attention on catastrophic illnesses in the workplace, and because of the stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS, it raises three primary concerns for organizations: (1) organizational avoidance of legal sanctions and l ... Full text Cite

The Legalistic Organization: Definitions, Dimensions, and Dilemmas

Journal Article Organization Science · August 1993 The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed. Grant Gilmore (The Ages of American Law 1977, p. 111) ... Full text Cite

Explaining the Limited Effectiveness of Legalistic “Remedies” for Trust/Distrust

Journal Article Organization Science · August 1993 Organizations frequently adopt formal rules, contracts, or other legalistic mechanisms when interpersonal trust is lacking. But recent research has shown such legalistic “remedies” for trust-related problems to be ineffective in restoring trust. T ... Full text Cite

Social Accounts in Conflict Situations: Using Explanations to Manage Conflict

Journal Article Human Relations · January 1, 1993 Considerable attention has been given to different behavioral strategies of conflict management (e.g., avoidance, compromise, collaboration). However, conflict theory and research has overlooked a simple, but effective strategy for managing conflict: the u ... Full text Cite

LEARNING THROUGH FAILURE - THE STRATEGY OF SMALL LOSSES

Journal Article RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR · January 1, 1992 Link to item Cite

A Dual‐Capacity Model of Communication Media Choice in Organizations

Conference Human Communication Research · January 1, 1992 Most previous research concerning communication media choke in organizations has stressed the capacity of media to convey data. More recently, scholars have examined the capacity of media to convey and manifest meaning. Rarely have both functions been cons ... Full text Cite

Reconceptualizing the Determinants of Risk Behavior

Journal Article The Academy of Management Review · January 1992 Full text Cite

Dispensing Legitimacy: Professional, Organization, and Legal Influences on Pharmacist Behavior

Journal Article Research in the Sociology of Organizations · 1991 Cite

Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information.

Journal Article Contemporary Sociology · January 1991 Full text Cite

Paradox and Transformation: Toward a Theory of Change in Organization and Management.

Journal Article Administrative Science Quarterly · December 1990 Full text Cite

ACQUISITIONS AND MARRIAGE - REPLY

Journal Article HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW · July 1, 1986 Link to item Cite

ACQUISITIONS - THE PROCESS CAN BE A PROBLEM

Journal Article HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW · March 1, 1986 Link to item Cite

Corporate Acquisitions: A Process Perspective

Journal Article Academy of Management Review · January 1986 Full text Cite

The Uniqueness Paradox in Organizational Stories

Journal Article Administrative Science Quarterly · September 1983 Full text Cite