The impact of mood on decision-making process

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze relationships between contextual factors, and micro-cognitive, emotional and relational factors, influencing the strategic decision-making process. Design/methodology/approach The relative roles of “rationality,” “intuition” and “political behavior” in five recent and critical strategic decisions have been explored using 16 semi-structured interviews with senior decision-makers in three Middle Eastern Arabic commercial banks. Findings Context specific macro-factors were found to influence the emotional state of strategists, leading them to adopt a rational approach, rather than use intuitive judgment, to making all five decisions. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to one contextual situation and business sector in order to maintain these variables relatively constant, with proposals for extending studies to other business situations and contexts. Practical implications The paper provides evidence for the impact of micro emotional and relational factors on decision-making practice, which should lead to increased recognition for strategists, and organizations, of the importance of these influences on strategic decision practice. Social implications A social implication is that organizations should build a level of awareness of the impact of the mood of strategists who are involved with strategic decisions, perhaps through appropriately designed social processes of organizational learning. Originality/value The paper examines the little-researched influence of the mood of strategists on the nature of decision-making process, and demonstrates the importance of including emotional factors in future studies. An explanatory framework is developed which is consistent with an interpretation that places the emotional state (mood) of “concerned attention” which existed within the senior management groups as the dominant factor driving the nature of process. A generalized research framework is proposed to aid future studies of strategic processes.