The purpose of this behavioural strategy study is to investigate how seasoned executives enact their personal values in real-life organizational decision-making. The significance of this article is linking the personal values of executives with actual leadership decisions they made. In focus groups, strategic leaders with an Outer Directed (OD) or Inner Directed (ID) values orientation were prompted to reflect on their decisions at work. Analysis of the coded transcripts revealed the four independent raters, reliably categorized coding events, according to a Maslovian coding framework, r = 0.81 for ID transcripts and r = 0.76 for OD transcripts. Further statistical analysis found significant differences between executives’ values orientation (ID or OD) and values decisions (ID or OD), demonstrating a consistent pattern of ID and OD decision-making. Qualitative analyses revealed that ID participants’ decisions were based on innovation, intrinsic value and interdependency, while OD participants’ decisions were based on effectiveness, performance and affective independence. Implications for researchers include advancing the efficacy of a behavioural strategy approach, support for Maslow’s motivational theory and decision-making being consistent with personal values in an organizational context. Implications for practioners include a predictable values-based pattern to managers’ decisions and the need for a personal values-based leadership-strategy match.
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