In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

Thinking fast and slow.

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Two Is Not Always Better Than One

Brand identities have a dual nature that appeals to the head (rational appeal) and to the heart (emotional appeal) of their consumers. Furthermore, consumers can process information in a predominately analytic or intuitive cognitive style (CS) manner. This study aims to analyze the influence of brand identity-cognitive style (BI-CS) fit on the perceived value of a brand. It also analyzes how different forms of social influence affect the perceived value of the brand.,Using a two-step experimental design, Step 1 examines the effect that BI-CS fit has on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE); Step 2 evaluates the effect that the three elements of social influence–compliance, identification and internalization–have on CBBE.,Both the BI-CS fit, and the identification and internalization forms of social influence have a significant and positive effect over the perceived value of the brand. A rational brand identity is given a higher perceived brand value by analytic CS consumers than intuitive CS consumers. Conversely, an emotional brand identity is given a higher perceived brand value by intuitive CS consumers than analytic CS consumers. However, whether the brand identity is more emotional or rational is less important than the values and beliefs that the brand communicates to create social influence.,This study contributes to the branding literature by introducing the CS concept to better understand the influence of emotional and rational brand identities on consumers with either rational or intuitive cognitive thinking styles and reinforce the importance of the brand duality concept.,The results demonstrate the importance of brand duality and show how firms could present emotional or rational brand identities depending on their consumers’ CS to increase the effectiveness of their messaging to build stronger brand images that increase the perceived value of the brand. These findings could have important implications for market segmentation.,Brand identities can be emotional or rational, and this creates more or less value depending on the consumers’ CS, but what is more important is that consumers internalize the brand’s message or identify with what the brand represents. Although this has been discussed in prior literature, the original contribution of this paper is tying all these concepts together.

The effect of brand identity-cognitive style fit and social influence on consumer-based brand equity

While cognitive style congruence has been highlighted as a potentially important variable influencing performance outcomes in work-related contexts, studies of its influence are scarce. This paper examines the influence of leader-follower cognitive style similarity on followers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Data from 430 leader-follower dyads were analyzed using polynomial regression and response surface analysis. Results demonstrate that congruence of leader/follower cognitive style is a predictor of follower OCBs. Organizations may therefore benefit from considering issues of similarity of cognitive styles in their attempts to develop effective leader-follower partnerships leading to increased OCBs and concomitant improvements in both individual and organizational level success.

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The Influence of Leader-Follower Cognitive Style Similarity on Followers' Organizational Citizenship Behaviors.

PurposeAlthough the literature on corporate governance and firm innovation finds that board independence is important, this paper proposes that the presence of independent directors alone is not enough to explain their impact on firm innovation. This study analyses if diversity among independent directors may affect the relationship between board independence and firm innovation.Design/methodology/approachA panel data on a sample of 124 Spanish listed companies for the period 2008–2019 used to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults suggest that independent directors have a negative effect on firm innovation, measured as number of patents, but when there are high levels of gender and nationality diversity among such directors, this negative effect may be mitigated.Originality/valueConsidering that firm innovation is a complex process associated with decision-making and that board independence itself may be not enough, this study goes a step further and delves deeper into the characteristics of independent directors. As far as is known, this paper is the first theoretical and empirical study that considers that independent director diversity as a moderating variable between board independence and firm innovation. Besides, this research contributes to the debate on the role of independent directors in firm innovation and the results may also serve as a guideline for policy makers and firms for structuring boards that are pro-innovation.

Independent directors and firm innovation: the moderating role of gender and nationality diversity

Cognitive diversity and team creativity: Effects of demographic faultlines, subgroup imbalance and information elaboration

A reassessment of the factor structure of the Allinson-Hayes Cognitive Style Index

Purpose - This study investigates the influence of cognitive style diversity on intra-group relationship conflict and individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The role of leader-member exchange as a moderating variable is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach – We used hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) and hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) to analyze results from a sample of 344 members from 83 teams nested within 126 departments in six manufacturing organizations in the
People’s Republic of China. 

Findings – Results yielded general support for our hypothesized relationships between cognitive style diversity and intra-group relationship conflict. Leader-member exchange was also found to moderate the relationship between these two variables. Contrary to expectations, there were no relationships between these variables and individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors.

Originality/value – This research addresses calls from the team diversity and conflict literatures to address the understudied area of deep-level cognitive diversity. Second, our study addresses previous calls for more team-level and mixed-level theory and methodology to inform OCB research. Third, this is the first study of group-level cognitive style diversity and the moderating influence of leader-member-exchange and provides valuable insights into ways of mitigating some of the negative effects of cognitive diversity on teams.

The influence of cognitive style diversity on intra-group relationship conflict, individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors and the moderating role of leader-member-exchange

Meng Qi

Papers

Cognitive diversity and team creativity: Effects of demographic faultlines, subgroup imbalance and information elaboration

The Influence of Leader-Follower Cognitive Style Similarity on Followers' Organizational Citizenship Behaviors.

A reassessment of the factor structure of the Allinson-Hayes Cognitive Style Index

The influence of cognitive style diversity on intra-group relationship conflict, individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors and the moderating role of leader-member-exchange

The Influence of Identity Faultlines on Employees’ Team Commitment: the Moderating Role of Inclusive Leadership and Team Identification