DO EMOTIONS MATTER? : THE ROLES OF CEO EMOTION REGULATION AND AFFECTIVITY IN STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING

This study addresses a critical gap in strategic decision-making research by focusing on the emotional aspects of decision-making, specifically, the roles of CEO affectivity and emotion regulation. Prior research has predominantly focused on rational, cognitive, and behavioral models (e.g., Elbanna & Child, 2007; Miller et al., 1998; Simsek et al., 2005), which overlook the emotional dynamics inherent in strategic decisions, especially in high-stakes environments. Strategic decision-making involves considerable uncertainty, and existing models that emphasize rationality often fail to capture the influence of emotions on decision outcomes (Hodgkinson & Healey, 2011). While recent studies have integrated cognitive and social psychology to develop understanding of strategic decisions, the role of CEO affectivity—the tendency to experience positive or negative emotions—remains underexplored. Furthermore, the role of CEO emotion regulation in managing these emotional states during decision-making is also insufficiently addressed. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining how CEO emotion regulation and affectivity influence strategic decision-making and firm performance, offering a deeper understanding of high stakes decision-making.