14613: Past, Present, and Future of a Behavioral Theory of the Firm: Reimagining Context in Decision-Making

Saturday, July 26, 2025

15:00 - 18:00 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall D- D3-m3

Session Type: PDW (workshop)
Orientation: Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/B8XzAB

Organizer(s)

PA

Pino G. Audia

Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business, United States
SH

Songcui Hu

U. of Arizona, United States
JJ

John Joseph

U. of California, Irvine, United States
HP

Hart E. Posen

Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business, United States

Panelist(s)

HG

Henrich Greve

INSEAD, Singapore
WO

William Ocasio

U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States
CR

Claus Rerup

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany

Facilitator(s)

OB

Oliver Baumann

U. of Southern Denmark, Denmark
SB

Stephan Billinger

U. of Southern Denmark, Denmark
DB

Daniela Blettner

Beedie School of Business Simon Fraser U., Canada
DK

Dongil Daniel Keum

Columbia Business School, United States
DN

Daniel Newark

HEC Paris, France
LR

Luke Rhee

U. of California, Irvine, United States
HR

Horacio Enrique Rousseau

Florida State U., United States
MS

Metin Sengul

McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, United States
CZ

Cyndi Man Zhang

Singapore Management University, Singapore
DH

Dorthe Doejbak Haakonsson

Aarhus U., Denmark
JC

Julien Clement

Stanford U., United States

The Behavioral Theory of the Firm (BTOF) has had a foundational impact on the development of much work in both organization theory and strategy. We seek to build an annual PDW that will be the touchstone of BTOF theoretical development. The PDW will link past research with future opportunities, both narrowly within the BTOF and, more broadly, reaching out to research domains in which the BTOF is a substantive building block. We provide a discussion forum where scholars can develop a shared understanding of BTOF research and insights for developing research to advance theory. AOM 2025 will represent the fifth edition of the PDW, which regularly draws crowds in excess of 150 participants. In 2025, the PDW will focus on reimagining the role of context in the BTOF. As Levinthal and Newark recently remarked (2023), influential approaches to the study of organizational decisions often leverage elegant but oversimplified conceptions of the context. However, A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, situates decisions within the context of the organization by emphasizing the importance of decision premises, standardized operating procedures, organizational structures, and experience, among other features. Many advances have been made to this original conception. We will engage with the latest advances that directly consider the context of choice, decision-making, and problem solving. The Part-I session will highlight four speakers, each addressing various aspects of context at the intersection of BTOF and other theories, including theories of institutional logics, organization design, and attention. The Part-II session will be roundtable discussions.