Breaking the frame: An analysis of strategic cognition and decision makingunder uncertainty

This paper reports the findings of two experimental investigations into the efficacy of a causal cognitive mapping procedure as a means for overcoming cognitive biases arising from the framing of strategic decision problems. In Study I, final year management studies undergraduate students were prese nted with an elaborated strategic-decision scenario, under one of four expe rimental conditions: positively vs. negatively framed decision scenarios, w ith prechoice vs. postchoice mapping task orders (i.e., participants were r equired to engage in cognitive mapping before or after making a decision). As predicted, participants in the postchoice mapping conditions succumbed t o the framing bias whereas those in the prechoice mapping conditions did no t. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings in a field setting, on a sample of senior managers, using a decision scenario that closely mirrored a strategic dilemma currently facing their organization. Taken together the findings of these studies indicate that the framing bias is likely to be a n important factor in strategic decision making, and suggest that cognitive mapping provides an effective means of limiting the damage accruing from t his bias. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.