A dual-processing view of three cognitive strategies in strategic decision making

Abstract

In making strategic decisions, managers implicitly or explicitly come to choose a cognitive strategy, by which we refer to the choices made as regards what type of information processing to engage in and rely on as the basis for a decision. Dual-processing theories of cognition recognize two types of information processing: non-conscious and conscious. There are two cognitive strategies—relying on intuition and engaging in analytic reasoning—that have a straightforward connection to the two types of information processing. However, managers often engage in reframing, that is, they deliberately attempt to rethink the background assumptions concerning how one approaches a decision-making situation. Despite the strategic importance of reframing, the foundations of this cognitive strategy remain theoretically underdeveloped. We argue that reframing involves both Type 1 and Type 2 processing in a complementary fashion. Specifically, reframing can be induced through conscious reflection and non-conscious processingduring an incubation period. Furthermore, we argue that while reframing is a robust cognitive strategy across varying levels of environmental dynamism, dedicating time to reframing incurs significant opportunity costs, and can thus be employed only sparingly.