Willy Haukedal | Norwegian School of Economics (original) (raw)

Papers by Willy Haukedal

Research paper thumbnail of Observation of a strategic household purchase decision

Psychology and Marketing, 1987

Page 1. ABSTRACT The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; ie, major, ... more Page 1. ABSTRACT The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; ie, major, complex buying decisions with long-term bindings of economic resources. An in-depth study of house buying in two-career ...

Research paper thumbnail of Categories of strategic stimuli: Their implications for managers' sense-making of organizational environments

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1994

Top-level managers have responsibility for making sense of their organization's environment t... more Top-level managers have responsibility for making sense of their organization's environment through perceiving and interpreting data from various sources. This task may be viewed as a complex process starting with the perception of strategic stimuli which are interpreted and eventually defined as a strategic issue. The environment has been extensively mapped conceptually, and the processes of interpretation and formulation of strategic issues are well documented. What have received less attention are the data actually perceived by the managers. These are labelled strategic stimuli and are here categorized according to two orthogonal dimensions: strength and structure. The four resulting categories are argumented to have specific consequences for managerial and organizational information gathering and processing capabilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Transformational leadership in customer-centric organizations and the need for strategic foresight

Research paper thumbnail of Psychological Contracts and Knowledge Worker Teams

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental images : a study of managerial cognition in the context of strategy formulation

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental imagery and strategic actions

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1988

Research paper thumbnail of Context-specific rationality in sense-making of strategic stimuli

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1994

Managerial cognition is central to strategic processes in several ways, since the perception and ... more Managerial cognition is central to strategic processes in several ways, since the perception and interpretation of strategic stimuli affects the way strategic issues are conceptualized. In this paper strategic stimuli are analysed according to the dimensions of strength and structure. It is argued that different classes of strategic stimuli pose different challenges to managerial cognition. It is further argued that experience of a particular strategic problem-domain influences managerial thinking patterns. These assumptions are tested empirically in a quasi-experimental study of managers and students involved in the analysis of four business cases, each designed to capture one specific class of strategic stimuli.

Research paper thumbnail of The Cumbersome Route from Research Data to Knowledge Use

Creativity and Innovation Management, 1997

Why do some firms within an industry make use of commissioned research while others don't? To ans... more Why do some firms within an industry make use of commissioned research while others don't? To answer this important, but far from understood research question a guiding perspective borrowing from the``two-community-metaphor'', cognitive psychology, and studies on knowledge use was developed. A quasi-experiment was conducted among two groups each one consisting of four firms from the hotel industry. Semi-structured, longitudinal personal interviews were conducted with top manager and assistant managers in each firm. The findings showed that utilization of research data may be cumbersome, requiring considerable cognitive efforts and elaboration to become useful knowledge applicable for practical purposes. It was also demonstrated that knowledge utilization involves innovative activities, including the construction of new routes of actions. During this process the initial research data were transformed, diffused and elaborated among organization members. It was also observed that when substantial``language'' barriers exist between research providers and users, competent personal assistance in interpretation and further elaboration of the research data may facilitate knowledge use. Theoretical and managerial implications are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Experts and Novices in Innovative, Unstructured Tasks: The Case of Strategy Formulation

Creativity and Innovation Management, 1995

Little is known about how managers interpret and elaborate strategic stimuli into further decisio... more Little is known about how managers interpret and elaborate strategic stimuli into further decision-making activities in novel, unstructured situations. Protocol analysis was conducted among a small sample of experienced managers and novices (managers to be) exposed to unstructured, strategic stimuli situations. The observed activities were found to partly deviate from decision making as portrayed in the research literature. Remarkable differences were also found between experts and novices in their interpretations and elaborations of strategic stimuli. Managerial and theoretical implications of the reported findings are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Observation of a strategic household purchase decision

Psychology & Marketing, 1987

The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; i.e., major, complex buying ... more The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; i.e., major, complex buying decisions with long-term bindings of economic resources. An in-depth study of house buying in two-career households demonstrated preferences (goals) to be ambiguous, and consequences to be modestly understood and partly uncovered after the purchase. Only a few alternatives were considered, and they were from different broad need-satisfying categories such as purchase of apartment or house, or renting. No direct comparisons of alternatives were observed to take place. The purchase decisions were based on few, very crude decision criteria working as guidelines for judging whether or not the alternatives considered were acceptable, while the final choice seemingly was made according to an affect-referral decision rule.

Research paper thumbnail of Observation of a strategic household purchase decision

Psychology and Marketing, 1987

Page 1. ABSTRACT The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; ie, major, ... more Page 1. ABSTRACT The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; ie, major, complex buying decisions with long-term bindings of economic resources. An in-depth study of house buying in two-career ...

Research paper thumbnail of Categories of strategic stimuli: Their implications for managers' sense-making of organizational environments

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1994

Top-level managers have responsibility for making sense of their organization's environment t... more Top-level managers have responsibility for making sense of their organization's environment through perceiving and interpreting data from various sources. This task may be viewed as a complex process starting with the perception of strategic stimuli which are interpreted and eventually defined as a strategic issue. The environment has been extensively mapped conceptually, and the processes of interpretation and formulation of strategic issues are well documented. What have received less attention are the data actually perceived by the managers. These are labelled strategic stimuli and are here categorized according to two orthogonal dimensions: strength and structure. The four resulting categories are argumented to have specific consequences for managerial and organizational information gathering and processing capabilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Transformational leadership in customer-centric organizations and the need for strategic foresight

Research paper thumbnail of Psychological Contracts and Knowledge Worker Teams

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental images : a study of managerial cognition in the context of strategy formulation

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental imagery and strategic actions

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1988

Research paper thumbnail of Context-specific rationality in sense-making of strategic stimuli

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1994

Managerial cognition is central to strategic processes in several ways, since the perception and ... more Managerial cognition is central to strategic processes in several ways, since the perception and interpretation of strategic stimuli affects the way strategic issues are conceptualized. In this paper strategic stimuli are analysed according to the dimensions of strength and structure. It is argued that different classes of strategic stimuli pose different challenges to managerial cognition. It is further argued that experience of a particular strategic problem-domain influences managerial thinking patterns. These assumptions are tested empirically in a quasi-experimental study of managers and students involved in the analysis of four business cases, each designed to capture one specific class of strategic stimuli.

Research paper thumbnail of The Cumbersome Route from Research Data to Knowledge Use

Creativity and Innovation Management, 1997

Why do some firms within an industry make use of commissioned research while others don't? To ans... more Why do some firms within an industry make use of commissioned research while others don't? To answer this important, but far from understood research question a guiding perspective borrowing from the``two-community-metaphor'', cognitive psychology, and studies on knowledge use was developed. A quasi-experiment was conducted among two groups each one consisting of four firms from the hotel industry. Semi-structured, longitudinal personal interviews were conducted with top manager and assistant managers in each firm. The findings showed that utilization of research data may be cumbersome, requiring considerable cognitive efforts and elaboration to become useful knowledge applicable for practical purposes. It was also demonstrated that knowledge utilization involves innovative activities, including the construction of new routes of actions. During this process the initial research data were transformed, diffused and elaborated among organization members. It was also observed that when substantial``language'' barriers exist between research providers and users, competent personal assistance in interpretation and further elaboration of the research data may facilitate knowledge use. Theoretical and managerial implications are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Experts and Novices in Innovative, Unstructured Tasks: The Case of Strategy Formulation

Creativity and Innovation Management, 1995

Little is known about how managers interpret and elaborate strategic stimuli into further decisio... more Little is known about how managers interpret and elaborate strategic stimuli into further decision-making activities in novel, unstructured situations. Protocol analysis was conducted among a small sample of experienced managers and novices (managers to be) exposed to unstructured, strategic stimuli situations. The observed activities were found to partly deviate from decision making as portrayed in the research literature. Remarkable differences were also found between experts and novices in their interpretations and elaborations of strategic stimuli. Managerial and theoretical implications of the reported findings are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Observation of a strategic household purchase decision

Psychology & Marketing, 1987

The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; i.e., major, complex buying ... more The present paper focuses on strategic household purchase decisions; i.e., major, complex buying decisions with long-term bindings of economic resources. An in-depth study of house buying in two-career households demonstrated preferences (goals) to be ambiguous, and consequences to be modestly understood and partly uncovered after the purchase. Only a few alternatives were considered, and they were from different broad need-satisfying categories such as purchase of apartment or house, or renting. No direct comparisons of alternatives were observed to take place. The purchase decisions were based on few, very crude decision criteria working as guidelines for judging whether or not the alternatives considered were acceptable, while the final choice seemingly was made according to an affect-referral decision rule.