Abstract:
This study responds to a call for research that recognised the role of reframing, as a third
cognitive strategy in managerial decision-making, along with the often studied Type 1
and Type 2 decision processes in dual processing theory. Reframing as a cognitive
strategy utilises both Type 1 non-conscious processing and Type 2 conscious
processing. As a relatively new construct within behavioural decision-making the
effectiveness of reframing as a cognitive strategy required further testing. This research
therefore fulfilled the purpose, through an experimental research methodology to test the
effectiveness of reframing, relative to intuition, within decision-making contexts of low
familiarity and high complexity. Moreover, the study examined whether the type of
intuition used by individuals interacts with the effectiveness of reframing relative to
intuition. Although the theorised effect of reframing in decision quality of unfamiliar and
complex decision tasks was well-motivated, the experiment did not find statistically
significant support that reframing as a cognitive strategy is more effective that intuition in
these contexts. Furthermore, the study did not find support that the different types of
intuition used by individuals interacts with the effectiveness of reframing relative to
intuition. The study, however, found that reframing has a positive coefficient relative to
intuition as a baseline group. These findings offer behavioural decision-making
researchers several new questions regarding the relative value of reframing as a
cognitive strategy. Organisations are encouraged to develop a broad range of cognitive
strategies to support effective decision-making, not limited to reframing or intuitive
processes.
