The thinking styles of managers: Dimensionality, profiles and motivational antecedents

Abstract

Despite its widespread application in the educational field, little research has applied thinking style constructs from Sternberg’s (1988) theory of mental self-government to management. The present study examines the dimensionality, profile scores and motivational antecedents of thinking styles among a sample of 256 managers from large organisations. The findings confirm the four-factor structure of thinking styles that has been observed in the education field, albeit with slightly altered meanings. With respect to their profiles, managers displayed a preference for Type I styles (generative processes that are cognitively complex) over Type II styles (cognitively simple processes that involve adhering to norms), an external style over an internal style, and a global style over a local style. As predicted, learning orientation was positively related to Type I styles, and performance-prove orientation was positively related to Type II styles. A performance-avoid orientation was not related to either style type.