The Justification of Organizational Performance

Barry M. Staw, Pamela 1. McKechnie, and Sheila M. Puffer Justification of organizational performance was investigated by testing for self-serving attributions in corporate annual reports. Letters to shareholders were found to show strong evidence of self-serving attributions, and these attributions took both an enhancing and defensive form. Self-serving attributions appeared to be convincing to the investing public, since the use of these attributions was associated with subsequent improvements in stock price. It also appeared that self-serving attributions were a form of impression management rather than a genuine expression of optimism, since enhancement was associated with subsequent selling of stock by corporate officers. Further analyses explored how performance information was communicated in shareholders' letters and examined additional determinants and consequences of self-serving attributions.