John Mawdsley

Associate Professor


Curriculum vitae


[email protected]


Strategy and Business Policy

HEC Paris

1 rue de la Liberation
78350 Jouy-en-Josas
France



Human Capital and Strategic Foresight: Evidence from Managers’ Stock Trading


Journal article


N. Asghar, R. Coff, J. K. Mawdsley, P. Meyer-Doyle
Strategy Science (Forthcoming), 2025

Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Asghar, N., Coff, R., Mawdsley, J. K., & Meyer-Doyle, P. (2025). Human Capital and Strategic Foresight: Evidence from Managers’ Stock Trading. Strategy Science (Forthcoming).


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Asghar, N., R. Coff, J. K. Mawdsley, and P. Meyer-Doyle. “Human Capital and Strategic Foresight: Evidence from Managers’ Stock Trading.” Strategy Science (Forthcoming) (2025).


MLA   Click to copy
Asghar, N., et al. “Human Capital and Strategic Foresight: Evidence from Managers’ Stock Trading.” Strategy Science (Forthcoming), 2025.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{asghar2025a,
  title = {Human Capital and Strategic Foresight: Evidence from Managers’ Stock Trading},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Strategy Science (Forthcoming)},
  author = {Asghar, N. and Coff, R. and Mawdsley, J. K. and Meyer-Doyle, P.}
}

We explore how managers’ knowledge breadth gained through prior employment in multiple industries, firms, and functions shapes their foresight about the success of new products. In the context of managers’ purchases in their firm’s stock prior to new product introduction announcements, we find that managers with broad knowledge gained through experience across multiple firms and functions have superior foresight compared with those whose narrow knowledge was gained in fewer firms and functions. Yet, when managers have broad knowledge gained across multiple industries, they underperform peers with narrower knowledge gained in fewer industries. Further, these differences are more pronounced under higher financial market volatility. Overall, our study offers fresh contributions to the strategic foresight literature by foregrounding how the type of career experience shaping the human capital of managers affects their ability to evaluate their firm’s prospects. We also contribute to the strategic human capital literature by highlighting that instead of being a monolithic concept, knowledge breadth is more nuanced and is composed of different human capital dimensions that heterogeneously affect the capabilities and behavior of managers. 


Tools
Translate to