Narayan, S., Sidhu, J. and Volberda, H. (2021). From Attention to Action: The Influence of Cognitive and Ideological Diversity in Top Management Teams on Business Model Innovation Journal of Management Studies, 58(8):2082--2110.

As top management teams (TMTs) become progressively more diverse, an important question arises: how does greater TMT diversity affect a company{\textquoteright}s ability to innovate its business model? To examine this, we draw on the upper-echelons literature and on research on business models as activity systems to theorize that cognitive and ideological diversity in TMTs will affect teams{\textquoteright} attention to business model innovation (BMI) and companies{\textquoteright} BMI intensity. Analysis of longitudinal data from firms in the US printing and publishing industry provides support for the theory that, over time, TMT cognitive and ideological diversity have a positive influence on BMI. Whereas cognitive diversity expands TMT{\textquoteright}s BMI attention-scope, both cognitive and ideological diversity increase BMI intensity. However, too much ideological diversity has a negative effect. We furthermore find that TMT longevity moderates the effects of TMT diversity positively, suggesting that the benefit of diversity grows as team members work together longer as a team. We discuss the study{\textquoteright}s contributions to the literature on diversity, BMI, and the upper echelons.