Time: Friday, March 27, 2026, 9:00-10:30 a.m.

Venue: Guoshun Campus, Starr Building, Room 410

Moderator: Associate Research Fellow Chaowen Deng

Topic: Aspiration Determination During Environmental Jolts: The Role of Opportunity and Threat Interpretations

Speaker: Research Fellow Lingli Luo , Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS)

Abstract: We investigate organizational aspiration determination by examining how organizations adjust their attention to each reference point in response to environmental jolts and how decision makers' opportunity and threat interpretations of the jolts regulate attention allocation. We argue that, during environmental jolts, organizations allocate more attention to aspiration reference points that are more informative for uncertainty resolution and risk reduction. Furthermore, we propose that opportunity interpretation of a jolt regulates attention toward reference points that are more informative for seeking opportunities, whereas threat interpretation regulates attention toward reference points that are more informative for averting threats. Based on a sample of U.S. public firms in the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, we find that organizations, when determining aspirations, allocate more attention to past performance but less attention to past aspiration during jolts. Furthermore, an opportunity interpretation of jolts influences organizations to allocate more attention to past aspiration and social reference but less attention to past performance, whereas a threat interpretation influences organizations to allocate more attention to past performance but less attention to past aspiration. Our research extends the theory of aspiration determination into shock environments and brings a novel perspective into the theory-cognitive regulators of aspiration attention rules.

Bio: Lingli Luo is a doctoral supervisor and currently serves as Assistant Professor, Research Fellow, and Director of the iMFA Program at Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS). Her primary research areas include strategic management and international business, with particular research interests in firms' behavioral strategy, organizational aspirations, and multinational enterprises in China. Her work has been published in international academic journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Business Ethics, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Management and Organization Review, Journal of Supply Chain Management, European Management Review, and Journal of Small Business Management. She has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, and special projects under the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Program. Her research has received the Young Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province. She currently serves as Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Management, an Editorial Board Member of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, and an anonymous reviewer for multiple academic journals.