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Good night, and good luck: perspectives on luck in management scholarship

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Liu, C 
de Rond, M 

Abstract

It is not insignificant that seminal contributions to management scholarship have highlighted luck as an alternative explanation for performance differences between individuals and organizations. Yet it has rarely taken center-stage in scholarship. The principal purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the application of luck in the management literature and in such foundation disciplines as economics, sociology, and psychology. Our analysis finds five common perspectives on luck: (a) luck as Attribution; (b) luck as Randomness; (c) luck as Counterfactual; (d) luck as Undeserved; and (e) luck as Serendipity. We outline various ways in which research on luck may be advanced along each of these perspectives, and develop an underexplored, sixth, perspective on (f) luck as Leveler to provide a possible solution to such issues as social inequality and (unwarranted) executive compensation.

Description

Keywords

35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3507 Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour

Journal Title

The Academy of Management Annals

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1941-6520
1941-6067

Volume Title

10

Publisher

Academy of Management
Sponsorship
The first author is also grateful for financial support received from Cambridge Overseas Trust, Jesus College (Oxford), the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, and the Ministry of Education (Taiwan) that sponsored his PhD dissertation.