Yungu Kang
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology · 社会科学
研究室紹介
Professor Yungu Kang's research lab focuses on strategic leadership and organizational decision-making, with a particular emphasis on how individual characteristics of top executives—such as personality, ideology, and background—shape firm-level strategic outcomes. The lab investigates how traits like name uncommonness, inventor identity, and political liberalism influence strategic distinctiveness and dynamism, especially in the context of environmental pressures and institutional constraints. Research also explores the interplay between top management team diversity, leadership confidence, and firm performance under scrutiny from financial markets. The lab combines theoretical insights from organizational behavior and strategic management with large-scale empirical data to examine the microfoundations of sustainable competitive advantage.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
7Abstract Research summary We build upon recent theories and studies about relational self to explain how a CEO's uncommon name may be related to a firm's strategic distinctiveness. Our theory explains why CEOs with uncommon names tend to develop a conception of being different from peers and accordingly pursue strategies that deviate from industry norms. We further suggest that the positive relationship between CEO name uncommonness and strategic distinctiveness is strengthened by the CEO's conf
Abstract Several streams of strategy literature emphasize firms’ distinctive strategy as being key to sustainable competitive advantage. Using a unique natural experiment setting, we examine how increased scrutiny and pressure from short‐sellers affect the strategic distinctiveness of the firm. We find that increasing short‐selling pressure reduces the strategic distinctiveness of the firm and that this negative effect is more pronounced for more visible and underperforming firms. Our findings s
Although many studies have examined the impact of the demographic diversity of top management teams (TMTs) on strategic outcomes, little theoretical or empirical work has investigated the influence of TMTs’ ideological diversity on strategic decisions. Because ideologies held by top executives influence not only their goals but also their decision-making processes, we develop the construct of TMT ideological diversity to explain how it increases strategic dynamism. In addition, we suggest that t
We build upon theories and studies regarding inventors and strategic leadership to explain how inventor CEOs are likely to drive a firm’s strategic change. We explain why inventor CEOs have the unique attributes of divergent thinking and intrinsic motivation and, accordingly, pursue strategies that deviate from the past. We further suggest that the positive relationship between inventor CEO status and strategic change is strengthened by CEO liberalism, CEO career variety, and industry dynamism.
Most of the existing researches about catch-up strategy have focused on aspects related to technology. The underlying assumption of these researches is that technological, or non-technological differentiation is possible. Most of the defense strategy researches also make the same assumptions that differentiation or price competition is possible in the market. However, there is a lack of research on catch-up and defense strategies where non-technological aspects are considered and differentiation