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Advising elite performers: the role of intuition, trust and expertise

Ed Cottam (Department of Enterprise Innovation and Strategy, Faculty of Business and Law, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Pushkar.P. Jha (Department of Innovation and Management, Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London, London, UK)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 30 September 2024

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Abstract

Purpose

Decision-makers often struggle to combine advice with their own intuition. This study examines how advice-giver traits and decision-makers’ intuition influence advice uptake. We present a novel typology based on decision-makers’ trust in advice-givers and their perceived expertise.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study uses a sample of publicly available interview data with 51 elite performers. Using inductive and content analysis, we explore the mediation between decision-makers’ intuitive competence (ability to effectively deploy intuition in interface with advice) and their autonomy (self-endorsement from past performance).

Findings

We identify four sources of advice: mentor advice, specialist advice, confidant advice and commentator advice. Drawing on instances of different sources of advice along varying degrees of trust and expertise, we propose a framework for interaction between intuitional competence and advice characteristics.

Originality/value

We offer a novel way of contextualising nuanced forms of advice and provide a structured typology of sources, characterised by trust and expertise. This typology and our findings help reconcile contradictions in decision-making research. Finally, we offer practical guidance for the uptake of advice.

Keywords

Citation

Cottam, E. and Jha, P.P. (2024), "Advising elite performers: the role of intuition, trust and expertise", Management Decision, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-11-2023-2076

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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