The purpose of this paper is to attempt to verify the predicted relationship between the demographic (i.e. tenure, functional background, etc.) difference and cognitive difference…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to verify the predicted relationship between the demographic (i.e. tenure, functional background, etc.) difference and cognitive difference among top managers and examine how such a relationship is affected by the communication among top managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors hypothesized that there is a positive relationship between demographic deviation and cognitive deviation of a focal manager on a TMT, and that such a relationship is mediated by the degree of communication that the focal manager has with other team members on the TMT. Using Structural Equation Modeling techniques, these hypotheses were tested based on a sample of 348 top managers that consist of 28 top management teams.
Findings
It was found that the hypothesized relationship between demographic deviation and cognitive deviation of a focal top manager was supported with respect to the tenure of a manager, but not the functional background of a manager. Moreover, it was found that communication frequency of a focal manager with other team members mediated the relationship between the tenure deviation and the cognitive deviation of the focal manager and that tenure deviation negatively influenced communication frequency, which in turn, negatively influenced the cognitive deviation of the manager.
Practical implications
These findings imply that: when constructing a competitive top management, practitioners such as boards of directors of a firm should pay more attention to the tenure diversity of a top management team because tenure diversity influences the cognitive diversity of the team; and communication among members of a management team can reduce the cognitive differences among members. However, communication happens more frequently among managers with similar tenure than among managers with dissimilar tenure. To promote consensus, managers need to watch for the forming of group fault lines along tenure within their teams.
Originality/value
As far as is known, this is the first study that uses relational demography to examine the influence of tenure difference on cognitive difference among members of a top management team and to expose a mediating role played by communication frequency.
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Haili Zhang, Hans van der Bij and Michael Song
While some studies have found that cognitive biases are detrimental to entrepreneurial performance, others have conjectured that cognitive biases may stimulate entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
While some studies have found that cognitive biases are detrimental to entrepreneurial performance, others have conjectured that cognitive biases may stimulate entrepreneurial action. This study uses a typology of availability and representative heuristics to examine how two patterns of biases affect entrepreneurial performance. Drawing on ideas from cognitive science, this study predicts that various levels of biases in each pattern stimulate entrepreneurial behavior and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A profile-deviation approach was employed to analyze data from 253 entrepreneurs and zero-truncated Poisson regression and the zero-truncated negative binomial regression to test hypotheses.
Findings
This study finds some positive associations between a particular level of cognitive biases in each of the two patterns and entrepreneurial behavior and performance. Results show that the patterns of biases often stimulate and never hurt entrepreneurial behavior and performance. The opposite holds for a lack of cognitive biases, which hurts and never stimulates entrepreneurial behavior and performance.
Originality/value
This study examines patterns of cognitive biases of entrepreneurs instead of single biases. The study broadens the perspective on the heuristics and cognitive biases of entrepreneurs by examining patterns of biases emanating from the availability and the representativeness heuristic that make a difference for entrepreneurial behavior and performance. The study also brings the “great rationality debate” closer to the entrepreneurship field by showing that a normative rule based on statistics and probability theory does not benefit entrepreneurial behavior and performance.
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Larry Wofford, Michael Troilo and Andrew Dorchester
This paper seeks to consider selected aspects of the relationship between real estate valuation, human cognition, and translational research. Its purpose is to introduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to consider selected aspects of the relationship between real estate valuation, human cognition, and translational research. Its purpose is to introduce the concept of cognitive risk, to propose a framework for mitigating it, and to develop a stream of translational research to transfer knowledge to real estate valuers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes an interdisciplinary conceptual approach towards the development and study of cognitive risk, and its mitigation. It proposes to broaden the study of behavioral issues in real estate valuation beyond cognitive psychology to cognitive science, and also fields such as time studies and human failure, in order to identify and mitigate cognitive risk.
Findings
The paper offers a framework as a starting‐point for handling cognitive risk. It borrows the concept of translational research from medicine to discuss how basic theoretical knowledge may be communicated to real estate valuers to improve performance.
Originality/value
The paper's concept of cognitive risk and discussion of its mitigation will enrich behavioral real estate by introducing the wisdom of other fields such as cognitive science and time studies. These fields have much to say about managing the risk surrounding human cognition, and will be of both academic and practical value to the discipline of real estate valuation.
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Raufhon Salahodjaev and Ziyodakhon Malikova
Related literature finds that human capital proxied by cognitive abilities is an important antecedent of numerous specific life outcomes. The purpose of this study is to extend…
Abstract
Purpose
Related literature finds that human capital proxied by cognitive abilities is an important antecedent of numerous specific life outcomes. The purpose of this study is to extend existing evidence by investigating the link between cognitive skills and income in Tajikistan. Tajikistan is a landlocked low-income country situated in Central Asia. Its population is 9.1 million people and gross domestic product per capita of US$822. According to the World Bank, Tajikistan has made significant progress in decreasing poverty levels from 83% in 2000 to 29.5% in 2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study comes from the 2013 Jobs, Skills and Migration Survey conducted by the World Bank and the German Society for International Cooperation. The main explanatory variable of the study is the cognitive abilities index of the respondents. The survey used item response theory (IRT) approach to estimate the ability of respondents. IRT is a method or a set of statistical frameworks, used to explore assessment item data, such as cognitive abilities assessment data. The wage function was estimated using the ordinary least squares method because the results are easier to interpret (Jencks, 1979; Bowles et al., 2001; Groves, 2006).
Findings
The baseline results are reported in Table 2. The results in Column 1 demonstrated the link between cognitive abilities and income without control variables (unconditional model). As expected, cognitive abilities are positively and significantly related to income (a1 = 0.0715, p < 0.01). The results from the unconditional model suggest that one standard deviation increase in cognitive abilities is associated with a nearly 17% increase in income.
Research limitations/implications
However, the study has a number of limitations. First, the dependent variable measures the overall income of the respondent, which includes the profit from other businesses. The survey does not provide data on monthly wages of respondents. Second, the sample may not perfectly represent the overall population of Tajikistan. To partially resolve this issue, this paper re-estimated out results for various sub-samples. Another important limitation of this study is the lack of respondent’s family background, which is an important correlate of human capital and income.
Practical implications
The results in the study offer preliminary evidence on the link between cognitive abilities and income in Tajikistan. However, the results of the study also suggest that both measures of human capital are positively related to income. Therefore, policymakers in Tajikistan should invest greater resources to health care, education and training programs as cognitive skills can be built in particular in the early stages of the life cycle. Indeed, Tajikistan has a significant potential for economic growth model driven by human capital. According to the World Bank, the adult literacy rate in Tajikistan is 100%, which is significantly above of what is observed in other developing countries. This may imply that the human potential in this country is considerable, and further investment in soft and hard skills would have a positive impact on economic growth.
Originality/value
This paper offers new evidence on the link between cognitive abilities and income, using data from Tajikistan. First, this paper finds that cognitive abilities are positively and significantly correlated with income. Second, this paper finds that this link remains robust even when this paper control for a large set of personal and job-related characteristics. The results from the unconditional model suggest that one standard deviation increase in cognitive abilities is associated with nearly a 17% increase in income.
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The main purpose of this paper is to assess the degree of complementarity between cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills, and to evaluate their joint impact on individual wages.
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to assess the degree of complementarity between cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills, and to evaluate their joint impact on individual wages.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses a survey representative of the Polish working-age population with well-established measures of cognitive and non-cognitive skills.
Findings
Non-cognitive skills are important in the labour market, not only as separate factors that influence wages, but as complements to cognitive skills. Specifically, the analysis showed that the more neurotic an individual is, the lower his or her returns to cognitive skills are. Social skills were not shown to be complementary to cognitive skills in Poland unlike the recent results in the United States.
Originality/value
To the best of author's knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence that neurotic individuals have lower returns to cognitive skills. It also tests the existence of the complementarity between social and cognitive skills.
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Huiqi Lin, Xi Li, Siyu Xu, Jun He and Noshaba Aziz
Broiler meat is the most commonly used meat product worldwide. Although China is regarded as one of the three largest broiler producers, the per capita chicken consumption remains…
Abstract
Purpose
Broiler meat is the most commonly used meat product worldwide. Although China is regarded as one of the three largest broiler producers, the per capita chicken consumption remains low. Consumers' cognitive bias and the information acquisition channels are believed to be the main factors contributing to this. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the phenomenon empirically, the current study uses the survey data of 1,056 consumers from China and analyses them using ordered logistic regression.
Findings
The results revealed that consumers' cognitive bias significantly affects their behaviour toward broiler products, and the order of influence is cognitive bias regarding industry cognitive > product nutrition and taste > food safety. The study further revealed that the more diverse the information acquisition channels, the more likely they are to promote consumer behaviour toward broiler chickens. The order of influence of the channels was self-organising > new media > traditional media.
Practical implications
Overall, the findings suggest that the government and enterprises should strengthen and upgrade information channels to boost both the broiler industry and consumer consumption behaviour regarding poultry products.
Originality/value
Rather than the usual focus on the impact of consumer cognition on consumer behaviour, this study examines the impact of cognitive bias on consumer behaviour. Further, centring on broiler products with high protein, low fat and feed-to-meat ratios, this study explores the reasons the per capita consumption of broiler products in China is far lower than the national average.
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Golshan Javadian, Maria Figueroa-Armijos, Vishal K. Gupta, Meisam Modarresi and Crystal Dobratz
Does gender stereotype endorsement play a role in the customer's cognitive evaluation of new ventures owned by women entrepreneurs? The authors’ cross-cultural study integrates…
Abstract
Purpose
Does gender stereotype endorsement play a role in the customer's cognitive evaluation of new ventures owned by women entrepreneurs? The authors’ cross-cultural study integrates literature on gender stereotype endorsement and cognitive legitimacy to address this research question.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a two-study experimental design and analyze our results by cultural context to test our hypotheses: one drawn from college students in Iran and one from working professionals in the United States.
Findings
The authors’ comparative results suggest that the evaluation of feminine versus masculine characteristics of women entrepreneurs varies depending on the evaluator's (in this case the customer's) endorsement of gender stereotypes and the cultural context. Specifically, the authors found that a new venture owned by a woman entrepreneur who displays feminine characteristics is perceived as more legitimate when the customer endorses feminine stereotypes, regardless of the country.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ research contributes to the literature on cognitive legitimacy and women's entrepreneurship by unveiling the cultural conditions and factors that allow women entrepreneurs to benefit from acting in a stereotypically feminine way. The authors use a binary approach to gender. Future research should extend our findings to also include a non-binary approach.
Originality/value
This study contributes to women's entrepreneurship research by unraveling the implications of gender stereotype endorsement, legitimacy and culture in customer evaluation of ventures owned by women.
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Chris Rowell, Robin Gustafsson and Marco Clemente
We argue that our understanding of how institutions matter has been undermined by a piecemeal approach to temporality in institutional analyses. This paper addresses this…
Abstract
We argue that our understanding of how institutions matter has been undermined by a piecemeal approach to temporality in institutional analyses. This paper addresses this shortcoming in the literature. We bring temporality to the fore by conceptualizing practices, which constitute institutions, as understood, situated, and coordinated in time by temporal structures. We elaborate an integrated framework of temporal structures that consist of three types: temporal patterns, temporal conceptions, and temporal orientations – and outline how each type contributes to the reproduction of practices. We discuss the implications of this framework for sustainability initiatives and conclude by suggesting future avenues of research on the temporal foundations of institutions.
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Yunfei Xing, Justin Zuopeng Zhang, Veda C. Storey and Alex Koohang
The global prevalence of social media and its potential to cause polarization are highly debated and impactful. The previous literature often assumes that the ideological bias of…
Abstract
Purpose
The global prevalence of social media and its potential to cause polarization are highly debated and impactful. The previous literature often assumes that the ideological bias of any media outlet remains static and exogenous to the polarization process. By studying polarization as a whole from an ecosystem approach, the authors aim to identify policies and strategies that can help mitigate the adverse effects of polarization and promote healthier online discourse.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate online polarization, the authors perform a systematic review and analysis of approximately 400 research articles to explore the connection between cognitive bias and polarization, examining both causal and correlational evidence. The authors extensively evaluate and integrate existing research related to the correlation between online polarization and crucial factors such as public engagement, selective exposure and political democracy. From doing so, the authors then develop a PolarSphere ecosystem that captures and illustrates the process of online polarization formation.
Findings
The authors' review uncovers a wide range of associations, including ideological cognition, bias, public participation, misinformation and miscommunication, political democracy, echo chambers and selective exposure, heterogeneity and trust. Although the impact of bias on social media polarization depends on specific environments and internal/external conditions, certain variables exhibit strong associations across multiple contexts. The authors use these observations as a basis from which to construct PolarSphere, an ecosystem of bias-based polarization on social media, to theorize the process of polarization formation.
Originality/value
Based on the PolarSphere ecosystem, the authors argue that it is crucial for governments and civil societies to maintain vigilance and invest in further research to gain a deep comprehension of how cognitive bias affects online polarization, which could lead to ways to eliminate polarization.
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Roya Molaei, Mohammad Reza Zali, Mohhammad Hasan Mobaraki and Jahngir Yadollahi Farsi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial idea dimensions (the value, content, number and novelty of idea) along with intuitive cognitive style…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial idea dimensions (the value, content, number and novelty of idea) along with intuitive cognitive style versus an analytical style on students' entrepreneurial intention.
Design/methodology/approach
To evaluate these relationships, the data are obtained from an extensive survey of 376 undergraduate students of campuses of Behavioral Sciences and Engineering at University of Teheran. The data are analyzed by the methodology of structural equation modeling (SEM) with using LISREL software and SPSS.
Findings
According to the SEM results, for students with intuitive cognitive style, among the four dimensions of entrepreneurial idea (i.e. idea's content, volume, value, and novelty), the greatest direct effect belongs to the idea volume and idea content. Further, for the students with analytical cognitive style, the idea volume and the idea value have the maximum direct impacts on their entrepreneurial intention meanwhile the least direct effect belongs to the idea novelty. In general, entrepreneurial intention of the students, in both groups of intuitive and analytical cognitive styles, is highly influenced by the volume of their entrepreneurial ideas. Therefore, the ideas volume is the most important factor to start up a new business in future by potential entrepreneurs all with analytical or intuitive cognitive styles.
Practical implications
It is recommended that entrepreneurship and business students who are attending entrepreneurship and business skills training courses should be categorized into two distinct groups of intuitive and analytical. For the group of students with intuitive cognitive style, an entrepreneurship training with systematic views and a method of establishing and reinforcing positive and stable emotions should be offered. For those with analytical cognitive style, trainings for “designing and writing Business Model and Plan”, “Opportunity recognition and feasibility study” and its related soft wares should be presented. Accordingly, in order to create and increase the entrepreneurial ideas number among all students, it is suggested that a course entitled “Entrepreneurial Idea Generation” be offered in Entrepreneurship Education Programs at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first papers to clarify and empirically assess the effects of entrepreneurial ideas dimensions on entrepreneurial intention considering the subjects' cognitive style as a mediating variable.