Managing with Style? Micro-Evidence on the Allocation of Managerial Attention

How do attention capacity and expertise affect the allocation of attention? Adapted from Dessein and Santos (2020), our theory shows that when attention is scarce, a manager focuses her attention on tasks in which she has relatively more expertise: she "manages with style." In contrast, when attention is abundant, the same manager diversifies her attention toward tasks in which she has relatively less expertise. Using micro-level data on managers from two unrelated companies, and employing various measures of time stress and managerial attention, we find converging and supporting evidence. Whether a manager "manages with style" depends on her attention capacity