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Managing an existential threat: how a global crisis contaminates organizational decision-making

J. Ian Norris (Economics and Business, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, USA)
Mario P. Casa de Calvo (Psychology, University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA)
Robert D. Mather (Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma, USA)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 10 November 2020

Issue publication date: 10 December 2020

2368

Abstract

Purpose

The paper introduces a new model, the evolutionary-existential model of organizational decision-making. The purpose of the model is to provide an empirical framework for understanding the context for decision-making under conditions of existential threat to organizations, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020.

Design/methodology/approach

The model is built on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review, drawing from research in social psychology, management, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior. In general, the authors follow Bargal's (2006) call for action research in the spirit of Lewin (1951).

Findings

According to the model, organizational decision-making during the pandemic threat is influenced by (1) existential threat and (2) an unprecedented macroenvironmental context for decision-making. The authors argue that these psychological and macroenvironmental forces may lead to suboptimal decision-making, based on (1) their basic cognitive architecture and (2) specific evolutionary triggers activated by the pandemic. The authors highlight how the interaction between these inputs and the decision context manifest in various social psychological phenomena that are known to impact judgments and decisions.

Practical implications

Simply put, the magnitude and the urgency of the global pandemic call for new and integrative ways of understanding organizational decision-making.

Originality/value

The model is new. Although the authors draw on prior research and theory, the model is uniquely interdisciplinary; further, the authors are able to make specific and unique predictions about the inputs, decision context and their social–psychological consequences for decision-making.

Keywords

Citation

Norris, J.I., Casa de Calvo, M.P. and Mather, R.D. (2020), "Managing an existential threat: how a global crisis contaminates organizational decision-making", Management Decision, Vol. 58 No. 10, pp. 2117-2138. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2020-1034

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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