A Study of Managerial Network Cognition among Firms Tendering for the 2014 Olympic Games in Russia

Despite the significant findings of cognition studies on intraorganizational perception on an individual level, as well as the extensive research on the performance effects of inter-organizational networks, little is known about the effects of managerial cognition on inter-organizational networks. An empirical study on managerial inter-organizational network perception will contribute to social network and cognition literature, by providing better understanding of antecedents of social networks, and consequences of (in)accurate network perception. My study is first to empirical test performance effects of managerial inter-organizational network cognition, extending past work on managers’ mental models. The setting of my study is the tender competitions organized for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in The Russian Federation. My study focuses on managers’ cognitive maps of key project officials’ network. I examine how the accurate perception of key project officials’ network affects the winning of the tenders. I analyzed 78 firms that were participating in 5 different tenders, which were held by 4 separate organizations. The analysis revealed that managerial network cognition does matter. Especially 2 accurate perception of network content and structure are strongly related to winning of the tenders. Furthermore, network centrality plays a moderating role in the relation between key officials’ network perception and winning of the tenders.