Environmental complexity, importance, variability and scanning behavior of Hong Kong executives

With the recent handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong executives face the challenge of formulating strategies in a very complex and uncertain environment. Using a sample of 55 Hong Kong Chinese executives, this study explored how executives' perceptions of their firm's external environment can affect their scanning behavior as measured by frequency and level of interest. Results indicated that executives intensified their scanning when perceived strategic importance of an environmental sector increased. Contrary to expectations, however, increased perceived environmental complexity did not decrease but increased executives scanning efforts of environmental sectors. No significant relationship was found between perceived strategic variability and scanning behavior.