IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v7y2017i3p33-d111595.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making Sense of a Most Popular Metaphor in Management: Towards a HedgeFox Scale for Cognitive Styles

Author

Listed:
  • Timo Meynhardt

    (HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
    Center for Leadership and Values in Society, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

  • Carolin Hermann

    (Center for Leadership and Values in Society, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

  • Stefan Anderer

    (HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
    Center for Advanced Studies in Management, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany)

Abstract

Research on cognitive style has gathered momentum over the past 40 years, especially with respect to learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This investigation adapts Tetlock’s hedgehog–fox scale for German-speaking respondents through three large-scale studies (n = 17,072) and examines the influence of cognitive style on employees’ public value assessments of their employing organizations. Our data led us to propose a revised and more economical HedgeFox Scale. In contrast with Tetlock’s findings, our results provide empirical and theoretical arguments for a two-factor structure. This shift in dimensionality affects the nature of the construct and aligns hedgehog–fox research with the latest developments in cognitive style research. Our results contribute to the ongoing interest in the dimensionality of cognitive styles and support the call for a more diverse picture. Finally, we provide recommendations for individuals and organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Timo Meynhardt & Carolin Hermann & Stefan Anderer, 2017. "Making Sense of a Most Popular Metaphor in Management: Towards a HedgeFox Scale for Cognitive Styles," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:7:y:2017:i:3:p:33-:d:111595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/7/3/33/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/7/3/33/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Gomez & Timo Meynhardt, 2012. "More Foxes in the Boardroom: Systems Thinking in Action," Springer Books, in: Stefan N. Grösser & René Zeier (ed.), Systemic Management for Intelligent Organizations, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 83-98, Springer.
    2. James P. Walsh, 1995. "Managerial and Organizational Cognition: Notes from a Trip Down Memory Lane," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(3), pages 280-321, June.
    3. Tom J. M. Mom & Frans A. J. van den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2009. "Understanding Variation in Managers' Ambidexterity: Investigating Direct and Interaction Effects of Formal Structural and Personal Coordination Mechanisms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 812-828, August.
    4. Sebastian Raisch & Julian Birkinshaw & Gilbert Probst & Michael L. Tushman, 2009. "Organizational Ambidexterity: Balancing Exploitation and Exploration for Sustained Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 685-695, August.
    5. Rebecca LeFebvre & Volker Franke, 2013. "Culture Matters: Individualism vs. Collectivism in Conflict Decision-Making," Societies, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schnellbaecher, Benedikt & Diefenbach, Ulf & Millemann, Jan, 2015. "Putting the Individual in Ambidexterity – Identifying Activities to Achieve Organisational Ambidexterity and Long-Term Survival," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2015), Kotor, Montengero, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Kotor, Montengero, 10-11 September 2015, pages 57-63, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
    2. Jiewei Zu & Jianan Wang & Jun Ma, 2022. "Ambidexterity in a Rapidly Changing Environment of China: Top Management Team Decision Making and Sustained Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    3. David B. Audretsch & Maribel Guerrero, 2023. "Is ambidexterity the missing link between entrepreneurship, management, and innovation?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1891-1918, December.
    4. Meynhardt, Timo & von Müller, Camillo, 2013. "„Wir wollen Werte schaffen für die Gesellschaft“ – Der Public Value im Spannungsfeld zwischen Aktienwert und Gemeinwohl. Eine Fallstudie am Beispiel der Deutsche Börse AG," ZögU - Zeitschrift für öffentliche und gemeinwirtschaftliche Unternehmen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 36(2-3), pages 119-149.
    5. Andreea N. Kiss & Dirk Libaers & Pamela S. Barr & Tang Wang & Miles A. Zachary, 2020. "CEO cognitive flexibility, information search, and organizational ambidexterity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2200-2233, December.
    6. Sunkee Lee, 2019. "Learning-by-Moving: Can Reconfiguring Spatial Proximity Between Organizational Members Promote Individual-level Exploration?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 467-488, May.
    7. Stern Neill & Raghuvar Dutt Pathak & Barbara A. Ribbens & Terry W. Noel & Gurmeet Singh, 2020. "The influence of managerial optimism and self-regulation on learning and business growth expectations within an emerging economic context," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 187-204, March.
    8. Jing A. Zhang & Tao Bai & Ryan W. Tang & Fiona Edgar & Steven Grover & Guoquan Chen, 2022. "The Development of Individual Ambidexterity Across Institutional Environments: Symmetric and Configurational Analyses," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 517-540, August.
    9. Eric Christian Brun, 2016. "Ambidexterity and Ambiguity: The Link Between Ambiguity Management and Contextual Ambidexterity in Innovation," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 1-29, August.
    10. Benedikt Schnellbächer & Sven Heidenreich, 2020. "The role of individual ambidexterity for organizational performance: examining effects of ambidextrous knowledge seeking and offering," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1535-1561, October.
    11. Christine Chou & Steven O. Kimbrough, 2016. "An agent-based model of organizational ambidexterity decisions and strategies in new product development," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 4-46, March.
    12. Wenke, Kathrin & Zapkau, Florian B. & Schwens, Christian, 2021. "Too small to do it all? A meta-analysis on the relative relationships of exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity with SME performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 653-665.
    13. Karl Aschenbrücker & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Performance-based incentives and innovative activity in small firms: evidence from German manufacturing," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(2), pages 47-64, June.
    14. Zeeshan Asim & Shahryar Sorooshian, 2019. "Exploring the Role of Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Management (KNIT) Capabilities that Influence Research and Development," JOItmC, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-47, April.
    15. Marios Kokkodis, 2023. "Adjusting Skillset Cohesion in Online Labor Markets: Reputation Gains and Opportunity Losses," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1245-1258, September.
    16. Daniella Laureiro-Martínez & Stefano Brusoni & Nicola Canessa & Maurizio Zollo, 2015. "Understanding the exploration–exploitation dilemma: An fMRI study of attention control and decision-making performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 319-338, March.
    17. Sara Bonesso & Fabrizio Gerli & Annachiara Scapolan, 2012. "Exploration and exploitation: Do actual behaviors match individuals' perceptions?," Working Papers 7, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    18. Ali, Murad & Shujahat, Muhammad & Ali, Zulfiqar & Kianto, Aino & Wang, Minhong & Bontis, Nick, 2022. "The neglected role of knowledge assets interplay in the pursuit of organisational ambidexterity," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    19. Lori Rosenkopf & Patia McGrath, 2011. "Advancing the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Novelty in Organizational Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1297-1311, October.
    20. van Assen, Marcel F., 2020. "Empowering leadership and contextual ambidexterity – The mediating role of committed leadership for continuous improvement," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 435-449.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:7:y:2017:i:3:p:33-:d:111595. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.