Strategy and Cognition
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 November 2015
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 November 2015
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0068
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 November 2015
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 November 2015
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0068
Introduction
Research on cognition in strategy is the bridge between traditional firm-focused strategy research and individual-focused psychology research: it considers the role of individuals in affecting the entire organization. “Cognition and strategy” is less a field in and of itself but more like a meeting point for researchers from multiple perspectives that are interested in the role of human beings (and their cognition) in the process of strategy creation and implementation. Most of the studies discussed here apply a cognitive perspective to one of the many commonly studied strategic phenomena, such as competitive interaction, capability development, organizational structure, entrepreneurship, and adaptation. The goals of this article are twofold: to organize and present the most relevant and important literature to scholars interested in the interplay between cognition and strategy and also to establish and identify the links between research on cognition and strategy with other topics in the mainstream of research on strategy, organizations, and elsewhere. This article strikes a balance between the pioneering work in the 1980s and early 1990s that initiated significant interest in the relationship between cognition and strategy, as well as more recent works that highlight new approaches on cognition and strategy. This is especially apparent when considering the empirical methods that have been used to investigate strategy and cognition, with much of the work being qualitative (ethnographic or case-study based), but with many innovations (new and old) including experimental data, formal and simulation models, field studies, and large scale empirical work leveraging novel sources of data on cognition from top managers and organizations. Studies are not organized by method, but the bibliography points out the methodological approach for each study to highlight the creativity that scholars have shown investigating cognition. This bibliography is organized as follows. “Foundations” introduces important connections to related domains and the early calls to integrate cognition and strategy. Sections on Cognition and the External Environment and Cognition About the Organization organize cognition based on direction (the former looking outward at competition and the environment, and the latter looking inward at resources, capabilities, and innovation). Cognition in Organizations discusses how strategic cognition is affected (positively or negatively) by being situated in an organization. Outcomes focuses on strategic cognition as an explanatory variable: how does cognition affect outcomes? Together, these various perspectives provide a coherent but still-evolving picture of how the cognitive aspects of the strategy creation and implementation processes affect organizational behavior and outcomes.
Foundations
This section covers the basic introductory elements to the discussion of strategy and cognition. The most important is the link with related domains in other research areas that are not directly about cognition and strategy but build an important foundation. This section also contains the original “calls to action” that motivated initial research in cognition and strategy. For reference purposes, this section also contains a summary of key methodological issues, some recent reviews of the relevant literature, a few theories that are specific to cognition and strategy, relevant journals, and a set of well-known edited volumes.
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Article
- Abusive Supervision
- Adverse Impact and Equal Employment Opportunity Analytics
- Alliance Portfolios
- Alternative Work Arrangements
- Applied Political Risk Analysis
- Approaches to Social Responsibility
- Assessment Centers: Theory, Practice and Research
- Attitudes
- Attributions
- Authentic Leadership
- Automation
- Bayesian Statistics
- Behavior, Organizational
- Behavioral Approach to Leadership
- Behavioral Theory of the Firm
- Benefits
- Between Organizations, Social Networks in and
- Brokerage in Networks
- Business and Human Rights
- Business Ethics
- Career Studies
- Career Transitions and Job Mobility
- Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations
- Charismatic and Innovative Team Leadership By and For Mill...
- Charismatic and Transformational Leadership
- Compensation, Rewards, Remuneration
- Competitive Dynamics
- Competitive Heterogeneity
- Competitive Intensity
- Computational Modeling
- Conditional Reasoning
- Conflict Management
- Considerate Leadership
- Cooperation-Competition (Coopetition)
- Corporate Philanthropy
- Corporate Social Performance
- Corporate Venture Capital
- Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
- Creativity
- Cross-Cultural Communication
- Cross-Cultural Management
- Cultural Intelligence
- Culture, Organization
- Data Analytic Methods
- Decision Making
- Diversity
- Diversity and Firm Performance
- Diversity and Inclusion, Global Perspective on
- Dynamic Capabilities
- Emotional Labor
- Employee Aging
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Ownership
- Employee Voice
- Empowerment, Psychological
- Entrepreneurial Firms
- Entrepreneurial Orientation
- Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship, Corporate
- Entrepreneurship, Women’s
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Ethics
- Evaluation, Expatriate Selection and
- Executive Succession
- Faking in Personnel Selection
- Family Business, Managing
- Feedback
- Financial Markets in Organization Theory and Economic Soci...
- Findings, Reporting Research
- Firm Bribery
- First-Mover Advantage
- Fit, Person-Environment
- Forecasting
- Founding Teams
- Global Leadership
- Global Talent Management
- Goal Setting
- Grounded Theory
- Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions
- Human Capital Resource Pipelines
- Human Resource Management
- Human Resource Management, Strategic
- Human Resources, Global
- Human Rights
- Humanitarian Work Psychology
- Humility in Management
- Impression Management at Work
- Imprinting
- Influence Strategies/Tactics in the Workplace
- Information Economics
- Innovative Behavior
- Intelligence, Emotional
- International Economic Development and SMEs
- International Economic Systems
- International Strategic Alliances
- Job Analysis and Competency Modeling
- Job Crafting
- Job Design
- Job Satisfaction
- Judgment and Decision Making in Teams
- Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration within and across Firm...
- Leader-Member Exchange
- Leadership Development
- Leadership Development and Organizational Change, Coaching...
- Leadership, Ethical
- Leadership, Global and Comparative
- Leadership, Strategic
- Learning by Doing in Organizational Activities
- Licensing
- Management History
- Management In Antiquity
- Managerial and Organizational Cognition
- Managerial Discretion
- Meaningful Work
- Mentoring
- Multinational Corporations and Emerging Markets
- Multiteam Systems
- Neo-institutional Theory
- Neuroscience, Organizational
- New Ventures
- Organization Design, Global
- Organization Development and Change
- Organization Research, Ethnography in
- Organization Theory
- Organizational Adaptation
- Organizational Ambidexterity
- Organizational Behavior, Emotions in
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)
- Organizational Climate
- Organizational Control
- Organizational Corruption
- Organizational Hybridity
- Organizational Identity
- Organizational Justice
- Organizational Legitimacy
- Organizational Networks
- Organizational Paradox
- Organizational Performance, Personality Theory and
- Organizational Responsibility
- Organizational Surveys, Driving Change Through
- Organizations, Big Data in
- Organizations, Gender in
- Organizations, Identity Work in
- Organizations, Political Ideology in
- Organizations, Social Identity Processes in
- Overqualification
- Passion
- Paternalistic Leadership
- Pay for Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies
- People Analytics
- Performance Appraisal
- Performance Feedback Theory
- Planning And Goal Setting
- Proactive Work Behavior
- Psychological Contracts
- Psychological Safety
- Real Options Theory
- Recruitment
- Regional Entrepreneurship
- Reputation, Organizational Image and
- Research, Ethics in
- Research, Longitudinal
- Research Methods
- Research Methods, Qualitative
- Resource Redeployment
- Resource-Dependence Theory
- Resources
- Response Surface Analysis, Polynomial Regression and
- Role of Time in Organizational Studies
- Safety, Work Place
- Selection
- Selection, Applicant Reactions to
- Self-Determination Theory for Work Motivation
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Management
- Self-Management and Personal Agency
- Sensemaking in and around Organizations
- Service Management
- Shared Team Leadership
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Evaluation: Status and Reputation
- Social Movement Theory
- Social Ties and Network Structure
- Socialization
- Spin-Outs
- Sports Settings in Management Research
- Stakeholder Theory, Transaction Cost Economics and
- Stakeholders
- Status in Organizations
- Strategic Alliances
- Strategic Human Capital
- Strategy
- Strategy and Cognition
- Strategy Implementation
- Stress
- Structural Contingency Theory/Information Processing Theor...
- Team Composition
- Team Conflict
- Team Design Characteristics
- Team Emergent States Team Emergent States
- Team Learning
- Team Mental Models
- Team Newcomers
- Team Performance
- Team Processes
- Teams, Global
- Technology and Innovation Management
- Technology, Organizational Assessment and
- the Workplace, Millennials in
- Theory X and Theory Y
- Time and Motion Studies
- Training and Development
- Training Evaluation
- Trust in Organizational Contexts
- Turnover
- Unobtrusive Measures
- Validity
- Virtual Teams
- Whistle-Blowing
- Work and Family: An Organizational Science Overview
- Work Contexts, Nonverbal Communication in
- Work, Mindfulness at
- Workplace Aggression and Violence
- Workplace Coaching
- Workplace Commitment
- Workplace Gossip
- Workplace Meetings
- Workplace, Spiritual Leadership in the
- World War II, Management Research during