Essays on Managerial Cognition, Diversity and Business Model Innovation Defended on Thursday, 28 May 2020

As the business environment becomes increasingly disruptive, an important question arises: how do differences among decision makers affect a company’s ability to reimagine their disrupted business model? Addressing this question, this dissertation explores the nuances of the relationship between diversity (cognitive, ideological, socio-economic, and cultural) and organizational change processes (such as business model innovation, digital transformation, incubation of social enterprises, and evolution of a new industry). Ranging multiple contexts, including publishing and printing, legal-tech, and sustainable forest management, the four studies comprising this dissertation explore the following research questions. How does cognitive diversity influence the decision making and its implementation, particularly in the context of business model innovation? How does this contrast with the diversity of ideology? How do team structural characteristics (such as formal hierarchy, task dependence, co-dependent rewards, and team longevity) influence this relationship? What influence do team members who are social or professional outsiders have on the successful incubation of co-creative business models? And, what are the differences between insiders' and outsiders' perception of a firm's business model? For this purpose, the dissertation utilises various analyses techniques, including Computer Aided Text Analysis, Generalised Estimating Equations, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, K-means and hierarchical clustering, cognitive mapping and network analysis.

Keywords

Business Model Innovation, Top Management Team, Cognitive Diversity, Structural Interdependence, Ideological Diversity, Digital Transformation, Managerial Cognition, Insider/Outsider, Caste, Legal Tech, Publishing, Forest Management


  • Share on