Social Network and Temporal Myopia

This paper examines the link between the social networks surrounding business leaders and temporal myopia in strategic planning. Specifically, we hypothesize that processes characteristic of being embedded in a closed network are associated with a lack of foresight and a tendency to neglect long-run strategic planning. Using a probability sample of 700 CEOs in China, we show that network closure is associated with temporal myopia, which is evidenced in various measures of business planning. We show that managers embedded in closed networks are less experienced in long-run planning and are also less successful in implementing long-run business plans. Our contribution to the literature is twofold: we add a network perspective to the literature on temporal myopia in strategic management and, more significantly, by grounding temporal myopia in the network surrounding a person, we separate temporal myopia from the person. Myopia emerges from the social situations we create or in which we find ourselves.