Despite the growing body of research on the success of acquisitions, the reasons why so many acquisitions fail remain poorly understood (Welch et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2020). Failure rates of corporate acquisitions as disruptive changes have been high for decades and show little evidence for sustainable development. They have attracted the attention of scholars examining the possible causes from numerous perspectives (Welch et al., 2020). A broad spectrum of practitioner stakeholders (Elfving, 2008; Stahl et al., 2011) and the academic community (Renneboog and Vansteenkiste, 2019) share significant concerns for three reasons. First, driving factors, such as economies of scale, deregulation, globalisation, expanding markets, risk spreading, and rapid response to market needs, are likely to intensify (Schorg et al., 2004). Second, acquisitions, as strategic decisions, are increasing in numbers (Hu et al., 2021). Third, the economic impact of acquisitions is challenging for markets, businesses and individuals.