The Mediating Effect of the TMT's Social Novelty on Generalist CEOs and Strategic Disconformity in the Restaurant Industry

As the importance of devising and implementing innovative strategies and outperforming competitors becomes increasingly more apparent, restaurant businesses must create organizational cultures and structures that support and value innovative and diverse perspectives. This study presents an overarching perspective for understanding the creation and initiation of strategic disconformity in restaurant firms. Specifically, this paper investigates how social novelty (i.e., TMT gender heterogeneity and member change) mediates the relationship between generalist CEOs and strategic disconformity. The findings indicate that TMT gender heterogeneity and TMT member change serve as important mediators between generalist CEOs and a firm's strategic disconformity.