18 November 2025

Photo: Yannik Gehrke

A new research article by Yannik Gehrke, Sebastian Firk, Julian Meier, and Michael Wolff examines the extent to which technology hype influences strategic decision-making among senior managers. The study focuses on digital acquisition premiums, defined as the ratio between the price paid by an acquirer and the share price of a digital target firm.

The study finds that during phases of heightened technology hype, managers tend to incorporate overly optimistic and readily accessible expectations into their valuations, resulting in systematically higher acquisition premiums. At the same time, acquirers concluding transactions during such hype phases experience weaker long-term performance. The findings further suggest that digital knowledge within the top management team and prior experience with digital acquisitions significantly reduce susceptibility to technology hype.

The article highlights that technological expertise and organisational learning are becoming increasingly important in preventing decision-makers from relying on inflated technological expectations. The article is available open access in the journal Long Range Planning.