Fast or slow? A meta-analysis on the performance implications of decision, implementation, and response speed

Speed across various organizational processes, such as decision-making, executing operational activities, and responding to competitive challenges, represents an essential component of firms’ ability to achieve a competitive advantage. However, a theoretical and empirical consensus has yet to form whether decision speed (DS), implementation speed (IS), and response speed (RS) are beneficial or detrimental to firm performance. To help reconcile these inconclusive findings, we meta-analyze 127 studies (representing 239 effect sizes) and report overall direct effects for DS (0.21), IS (0.22), and RS (0.10) on firm performance. In addition, we examine contingencies which reveal that the performance consequences of DS, IS, and RS vary across contextual and methodological conditions.