决策者的认知特征对决策过程及企业战略选择的影响

EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS ON THE PROCESSOF DECISION MAKING AND STRATEGIC CHOICE

在不确定环境下,企业的最高决策者的个人特性和行为对于企业的战略决策起着关键的作用。本研究探讨决策者的认知特征对于战略决策的过程以及最终形成的战略决策的影响。研究采用情境实验法,根据某企业的实际情形编写了一个商业案例,案例提供了决策者所需要的信息,并制造出高不确定的情境。148名来自大学管理学院的学生被要求对于该案例进行分析并填写有关量表。对数据进行结构方程模型的分析后得到如下结果:决策者的认知复杂性和认知需要与他们对企业内外环境的周密分析具有显著的正向关系,而且通过后者影响到对于环境中蕴含的机会的判断,并最终影响是否进入某项业务的决策。

Under uncertain environments, decision makers’ personal characteristics and behavior take important roles in making strategic decisions in an enterprise. This study was designed to examine the relationships between the cognitive characteristics of decision makers, the process of decision making and the final strategic choice for an enterprise. The scenario-based experiment was conducted to achieve this purpose. A business case that was developed from the business practices of a real company in China and rich information was included to create uncertainty. 148 students from a management school were required to analyze the case and to present their answers to some questions relating to the case on behalf of the company's CEO. Participants were also asked to complete other scales in a questionnaire. Before the case analysis, the cognitive complexity of the sample was measured. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed the following results: both need for cognition and cognitive complexity are positively related to strategic orientation, which reflects a 'rational' approach in scanning and analyzing the company's external environment; strategic orientation is positively related to participants' judgments of the opportunities and threats in the environments, and these judgments significantly influence participants' decision on whether the company should enter into a new business. The findings of this study suggest that top managers in enterprises should both develop their motivation and ability to engage in rational thinking when they are making decisions under uncertainty.