Beyond personal control: When and how executives' beliefs in negotiable fate foster entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance

Negotiable fate, the belief that fate imposes boundaries within which personal actions can shape outcomes, is rooted in Chinese collective wisdom. This belief is hypothesized to prompt executives to use of available resources to create opportunities by directing their attention to controllable aspects of unpredictable environments. Thus, executives' endorsement of negotiable fate beliefs is expected not only to enhance firm-level entrepreneurial orientation, but also to positively predict firm innovation and financial performance. We further expect these mediation effects to be stronger under dynamic environments. Studies of top executives in China support the theorized moderated-mediation model. By providing evidence for its context-specific benefits, the concept of negotiable fate enhances the dialogue on fate beliefs in the Chinese context and suggests new directions for organizational behavior scholarship beyond China. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.