Attentional Uniqueness and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Growth Actions

Abstract

The attention‐based view posits that a firm's allocation of attention to particular issues directly influences its actions and performance. Yet, the impact of attentional uniqueness – how the pattern of a firm's attentional allocation diverges from its competitors within the same industry – on behaviour and performance remains underexplored. We argue for an inverted U‐shaped relationship between attentional uniqueness and firm performance, mediated by the frequency of growth actions. This is because a firm's attentional allocation shapes its reaction to problems, opportunities, and threats in the competitive landscape, resulting in its competitive advantage. To generate growth actions, a firm needs to have both a unique perspective and a general understanding of its industry. Furthermore, we propose that this relationship is contingent on environmental munificence, which reflects the presence of growth opportunities. Our analysis, leveraging structural topic modelling on annual security reports from 986 Japanese listed companies between 2004 and 2016, broadly supports these theoretical predictions.