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The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on the antecedents and consequences of group cognitive complexity (GCC) and integrate the empirical work by using the composition/compilation framework of emergence and the input-mediator-output-input (I-M-O-I) model of team effectiveness.

Through a systematic search in extant databases, the authors found 27 empirical studies exploring the antecedents and consequences of GCC.

The extant literature is dominated by a compilational approach on GCC, experimental designs and a focus on exploring the antecedents of GCC (group composition and processes mostly), thus providing useful insights for organizational interventions. The work on the implications of GCC for individual or organizational level outcomes is however scant. Future endeavors could rely more on a multilevel exploration of GCC, take a developmental rather than a one-shot approach and explore the impact of new ways of working on the emergence of GCC.

The authors propose an integration of extant empirical work on GCC by using two complementary frameworks: the I-M-O-I model and the composition/compilation framework. The authors highlight the implications for practice and draw future research directions.

The purpose of the paper is to develop a theoretical framework with testable propositions discussing the role of counterfactual thinking in fostering accurate decision-making in groups and preventing catastrophes, being mediated by information searching, sharing, task conflict and conflict management mechanisms, moderated by task complexity, cognitive complexity, cognitive closure and tolerance of ambiguity.

A theoretical framework is formulated and propositions are postulated involving independent, mediating, moderating and dependent variables.

This paper recommends a helpful framework for understanding of how counterfactual thinking affects information searching, sharing and decision-making accuracy in groups, thereby preventing catastrophes.

The proposed framework might be of assistance in managing complex group decision-making and information sharing in organizations. Decision-makers may become aware that activating counterfactual mind-set enables them to search for critical information facilitating accurate decision-making in groups leading to catastrophe prevention.

This paper adds value to the field of counterfactual thinking theory applied to group decision-making. Moreover, the paper provides a novel framework for group decision-making which sheds light on pertinent variables, which can either ameliorate or exacerbate the accuracy of decision-making by information searching and sharing in groups under varying context of high/low task complexity. The ramifications of task conflict, conflict management mechanisms, team diversity and size are explored alongside the moderating role of cognitive complexity, cognitive closure and tolerance for ambiguity.

This paper aims to test the influence of external information search (EIS) on knowledge elaboration and group cognitive complexity (GCC) under the moderating effect of absorptive capacity (AC is indicated by prior knowledge base and gender diversity).

The results of three studies (one field study and two experimental studies) are reported. The first study tests the interaction between EIS and the two dimensions of AC on group knowledge elaboration in a sample of 65 organizational groups. In the second study, EIS was directly manipulated and the interaction with AC in a sample of 65 groups was tested. In the last experimental study, the AC of the boundary spanner (highest level of expertise versus lowest level of expertise) was manipulated and the effects of EIS in a sample of 37 groups were tested.

The first study reveals a significant interaction between EIS and prior knowledge base on knowledge elaboration and points toward a compensatory interplay of EIS and AC on GCC. The results of the second study indicate that EIS increases the time spent on task, as well as the efficiency of knowledge integration (GCC per unit of time). Furthermore, EIS has the strongest positive effect on GCC in groups in which at least one of the AC dimensions is average or high. The results of the last study show that the AC of the boundary spanner compensates for the lack of absorptive capacity of the group and also show that the cognitive distance between the boundary spanner and the rest of the group has a negative influence on the efficiency of knowledge integration in groups.

The limitations of Study 1, common to non-experimental research (related to causality), are dealt with in the second and third studies that establish causality between EIS and GCC.

The paper has important implications for the management of information search effort in organizational groups, in particular the groups are advised to: engage in EIS to increase their cognitive repertoire and cognitive complexity, delegate, when possible, their most competent members to engage in boundary spanning activities as they will maximize the cognitive benefits of EIS and finally minimize the cognitive dissimilarity between the boundary spanner and the rest of the group to facilitate the effective integration of novel insights into the group cognition.

This study is among the first empirical attempts to uncover the causal effect of EIS on knowledge elaboration and GCC in groups and to uncover the role of the boundary spanner in the EIS efforts.

As normative interventions (NIs) have been claimed to be effective in improving decision quality in groups, the aim of the paper is to address the effectiveness of NIs in ad hoc and established groups across several task domains.

Three experimental studies were conducted to test the effects of NIs on collective cognition, group rationality, and decision quality.

The first experimental study (58 groups) compared the effects of NIs on the emergence of group level cognitive structures. The results show that NIs lead to higher group cognitive complexity in established rather than in ad hoc groups. The second study tests the effects of NIs on group rationality (as emergent group competence) in a sample of 40 established groups and shows that NIs have synergic effects and foster group rationality. In the third study the insights of the first two studies are extended to a more realistic decision task performed by groups of managers. The results of the last study show that decision quality is higher in groups that received NIs as compared to groups that did not receive NIs.

The results contribute to the group cognition literature by showing the synergic effects of NIs.

The results show that NIs are simple and effective ways of improving information processing and decision quality in established decision‐making groups.

NIs help in achieving better decisions throughout society.

The paper is the first comprehensive test of the impact of NIs on group information processing across several cognitive tasks and the first to explore group rationality as an emergent group‐level competence.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the concept of cognitive proximity, by studying it as a process in groups and dissecting how cognitive proximity is related to knowledge creation that results, for example, in articles and technological applications. Cognitive proximity, i.e. similar knowledge bases, is essential in creating knowledge in groups whose members have different professional and cultural backgrounds, which is often the case in internationalizing universities and companies.

The case study includes four top‐level international academic groups from Finnish universities that have a foreign leader. The groups were followed from 2007‐2009. Interviews and diaries are analysed using mental mapping.

According to the results, cognitive proximity is achieved through cooperation and suitable tasks. Knowledge is created during cognitive friction – when members are becoming cognitively proximate through knowledge base content, but developing a cognitive distance through a knowledge base structure.

This paper is one of the earliest efforts to study cognitive proximity as a process in groups. Cognitive proximity has especially raised interest in the fields of knowledge management and economic geography.

This conceptual paper explores a novel model explaining teachers' perceptions of their effective leader through the lens of implicit leadership theory (ILT), using the concepts of school principals' sense-making and cognitive complexity (CC).

The sense-making framework and CC theory were used to explain ILT, which focuses on individuals' perceptions of leaders' prototypical and anti-prototypical attributes.

The theoretical model suggests that school principals as sense-makers with high levels of CC will be perceived by teachers as effective in terms of leadership prototypes, whereas teachers' perceptions of principals with low levels of CC will be related to leadership anti-prototypes.

This paper suggests a model for a multidimensional understanding of the relationship between principals' sense-making and CC and their influence on teachers' perceptions of an effective leader.

Opening avenues for future research into employee perceptions of different leadership characteristics, this model emphasizes the cognitive aspects of school principals within implicit leadership theories. This theoretical model should be further examined empirically, and other types of CC, such as social and behavioral aspects, or affective complexity and self-complexity, should be considered.

Collaborative systems are particular cases of multi-team systems in which several groups representing various interests meet to debate and generate solutions on complex societal issues. Stakeholder diversity in such systems often triggers power differences and disparity and the study explores the dual role of power disparity in collaborative settings. The purpose of this paper is to extend the power approach-inhibition model (Keltner et al., 2003) to the group level of analysis and argue that, on the positive side, power disparity increases the cognitive activity of the interacting groups (i.e. task-related debates), while on the other hand it generates a negative affective climate.

The authors collected data at two time points across nine behavioral simulations (54 teams, 239 participants) designed to explore the cognitive and affective dynamics between six parties interacting in a collaborative decision task.

The results show that power disparity increases cognitive activity in collaborative multi-party systems, while it hinders the affective climate, by increasing relationship conflict and decreasing psychological safety among the stakeholders.

This study provides important theoretical and practical contributions mostly for the consultation processes, as interventions might be directed at fostering the positive effects of power disparity in collaborative setting, while mitigating its drawbacks.

By extending the approach-inhibition model to the group level, this is one of the first empirical studies to examine the dual nature of the impact that power disparity has on the cognitive (i.e. positive effect) and affective (i.e. negative effect) dynamics of multi-party collaborative systems (i.e. multi-team systems).

The purpose of this study is to verify whether digital transformation strategy (DTS) could improve the organizational performance and provide a comprehensive analysis for enterprises on the necessity of implementing digital transformation in the context of China and draw on the perspectives of “Skewed conflict,” “minority dissent theory” and “too-much-of-a-good-thing.” This study investigates the curvilinear moderating role of cognitive conflict between DTS and performance.

An empirical investigation was used to collect a large sample data of Chinese enterprises’ digital transformation. A multiple linear regression analysis with SPSS was used to test the proposed hypotheses such as the inverted U-shaped moderating effect of the cognitive conflict.

In the Chinese context, DTS has a positive relationship on the short- and long-term financial performance. Moreover, this relationship was moderated by cognitive conflict such that the relationship between DTS and short-term financial performance could be further enhanced under the moderate cognitive conflict; however, the relationship between DTS and long-term financial performance was considerably influenced for higher cognitive conflict.

Based on the co-evolution of the information technology/information system (IT/IS) and business strategy, this study clarified the relationships among DTS, digital strategy and business and information technology strategies. By focusing on corporate strategy, this study further examined the effect of digital transformation on both short- and long-term financial performance. To further reveal the micro-psychological mechanisms underlying the effect of DTS on organizational performance, this study confirmed the inverted U-shaped moderating effect of the top management team’s cognitive conflict. Therefore, this research provides a new theoretical perspective for future research in the field of IT/IS, DTS and digital strategy.

Many criticisms have been made about the ability of traditional evaluation measures to provide genuinely useful information. They rarely tell the trainer anything he does not already know, and investigation of their objectivity suggests that they frequently do little more than reinforce in the trainer's mind the answers he wishes to hear.

A number of management training models use as their foundation some variables which are controversial. Perhaps the most commonly found basis, is the Initiating Structure and Consideration theory. (Fleishman et al., 1955). It forms the central support of such popular management models as the Managerial Grid (Blake and Mouton, 1964); the 3‐D Theory (Reddin, 1970); Contingency Theory (Fiedler, 1967); Life Cycle Model (Hersey and Blanchard, 1969); Path‐Goal Theory (House, 1971) and others.