Relationship of Cognitive Style and Job Level: First Demonstration of Cultural Differences

Abstract

Higher-level managers are said to have a more intuitive cognitive style. To verify this hypothesis, we must consider three factors that have often been left out of account. Previous studies, related to managerial cognitive style and job level, used a unidimensional model of cognitive style, did not consider age, and have mainly been conducted in the UK. Our study replicated previous studies on a population of 1,533 Japanese fulltime workers, using a questionnaire based on a two-dimensional model of cognitive style and setting a frame by age for each job level. Our results showed that higher job levels are associated with more rational cognitive styles. There were significant main effects of the interaction of job level and job level by age in rational thinking style. There was no correlation between intuition and job level. Our findings are the first demonstration that the relationship between job level and cognitive style likely depends on culture.

Need for cognition in a Portuguese managers sample: Invariance across gender and professional activity.

“…Thus, it is possible that managers who face high time pressures denote innovative behaviors even when they have a low NFC (Wu et al, 2014). In short, and beyond the already mentioned aspects, the NFC influences several areas in the sphere of the management, such as career guidance, personnel selection, task design, team composition, conflict management, and training and development (Allinson & Hayes, 1996; Hayes & Allinson, 1994; Kageyama & Sugiura, 2017).…”

Cognitive Styles Research: A Review of Theory, Assessments and Applications

“…They used Pask's Holist-Serialist dimension of CS and found that not only did students show an improvement in learning when their styles were matched, but they showed more positive perception towards such learning systems. Kageyama and Sugiura (2017) conducted a first-of-its-kind cross cultural study of cognitive styles among higher level employees in UK and Japan. As opposed to the prevailing notion favouring intuitive style among higher level jobs, their study found quite the opposite in Japanese culture; where rational styles were more prevalent as levels went higher.…”