Challenges and Resilience: Managers’ Perceptions of Firm Performance Following M&As

We study mergers and acquisitions (M&As), resilience and performance, identifying links between managers’ perceptions of performance and resilience, using trans-national organisational-level survey evidence (N = 3,613) and follow up semi-structured in-depth interviews with managers involved in M&As and demerger. Drawing on the resilience and M&A literature, we identify reasons why employees in acquired firms may be less resilient in coping with the resultant changes than those of the acquirer and why this will negatively impact perceptions of performance. We explore the causes and consequences of variations in resilience and performance within firms that acquire others, and in those that have been demerged. As anticipated, we find that although managers in acquired firms tended to report worse performance than those in acquiring firms, both tended to be more positive than firms that had not taken part in an M&A at all. We draw out implications for theory and practice.     

Executive functions in early childhood: The role of maternal and paternal parenting practices

We investigated the association between mothers' and fathers' harsh parenting and sensitive parenting practices and child's executive functions (EF) in early childhood in 607 families. We focused on three broad dimensions of child EF: Emergent metacognition, inhibitory self‐control, and flexibility measured with the parent‐reported Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function‐Preschool Version. Less sensitive parenting of the mother and harsher parenting of the father were related to lower scores of emergent metacognition and inhibitory self‐control. Parenting was not associated with child flexibility. This study extends previous research on the association between parenting and EF by the focus on the role of the father and demonstrates independent effects of mother and father on child EF.