Using Cognitive Mapping in Management Research: Decisions about Technical Innovation
| Author | Jacky Swan |
| Date | 01 June 1997 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.0050 |
| Published date | 01 June 1997 |
Introduction
Successes and failures with technological innova-
tion have been attributed, at least in part, to the
decision-making processes of the adopting organ-
ization (Gerwin, 1988). This paper highlights the
importance of cognitions of key actors for de-
cisions about new technology but suggests that
empirical work in this area has been limited. The
paper therefore critically evaluates the potential
for cognitive mapping techniques to be used for
investigating the role of cognitions in decisions
about technological innovation and considers
how these techniques might complement other
methodologies.
My interest in this topic stems from involve-
ment in research projects1that have investigated
the organizational context and decision-making
practices surrounding the adoption of a particular
technology – computer aided production manage-
ment (CAPM). This research involved a series of
case studies of medium and large-sized manu-
facturing firms that were attempting to adopt
CAPM technologies (Swan and Clark, 1992;
Robertson et al., 1996). In Britain during the
1980s CAPM technologies (under a variety of
different guises) were being promoted as the best
practice technology for production control in
manufacturing industry. In theory, CAPM techno-
logies can optimize production flows and invent-
ory levels in manufacturing firms by integrating
the data that is used across the different functional
areas within the firm (e.g. sales, purchasing, produc-
tion, etc.) and using this for production planning.
Academic literature at the time reinforced this
view (e.g. Corke, 1985).
In reality, numerous case studies – including
our own – were demonstrating that many firms
were experiencing severe difficulties in implement-
ing CAPM and were not using the technology
British Journal of Management, Vol. 8, 183–198 (1997)
Using Cognitive Mapping in
Management Research: Decisions about
Technical Innovation
Jacky Swan
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Case studies of firms attempting to adopt a particular type of technological innovation
have demonstrated that the process of technological innovation may be mediated by
decision-makers’ access to knowledge and by their cognitions – reflected in belief sys-
tems. This paper highlights the importance of cognitions in decisions about technolo-
gical innovation. However, cognitive processes have been under emphasized in empirical
work on technological innovation and part of the problem may have been lack of avail-
ability of research tools and techniques with which to explore cognitions. Cognitive
mapping methodologies are reviewed in terms of their potential to fill this gap in the
research into technological innovation. The paper discusses these methodologies, eval-
uates their limitations and argues that a distinction should be made between cognitive
maps and the output of mapping techniques. The paper concludes that cognitive map-
ping may provide a useful addition to existing management research tools provided
researchers are clear about what is revealed by the particular methodology used.
© 1997 British Academy of Management
1One project was supported by EPSRC and con-
ducted together with Peter Clark, Sudi Sharifi and Sue
Newell at Aston University. Another was supported by
ESRC and conducted with Maxine Robertson and Sue
Newell at University of Warwick. The author thanks
these collaborators.
as prescribed by the software suppliers (see
also Wilson et al., 1994). The main problems
seemed to occur when firms tried to move from
having modules of CAPM working independ-
ently in different functions to having integration
across functions (Waterlow and Monniot, 1986).
Earlier case studies revealed that key players
in the different functional areas of firms often
held quite diverse beliefs about CAPM and its
likelihood of success. These inter-functional dif-
ferences in understandings of CAPM appeared to
cause problems in implementing the technology
(Swan and Clark, 1992; Bessant et al., 1989). For
example, in one of our cases a purchasing man-
ager believed that CAPM would disadvantage
the firm, contrary to the belief held by other func-
tional managers that CAPM would offer numer-
ous advantages. This particular manager had not
been involved in design choices but his involve-
ment was crucial to the firm’s plans to implement
CAPM. His commitment to the project was low,
with the result that implementation was delayed
and there was political infighting between this
function and other functional areas in the firm
(Swan and Clark, 1992). In keeping with other
studies of innovation diffusion, CAPM was ad-
opted because it was perceived to offer relative
advantage (Rogers, 1983) but these perceptions
were not shared by those needed to implement
the system.
In the literature, CAPM is often presented as
a technology with fixed, mostly technical, para-
meters which, provided it is implemented prop-
erly, will deliver advantages to the user (e.g.
Corke, 1985). Research has therefore tended to
focus on how to implement the technology (e.g.
Wilson et al., 1994). However, other research into
technology and organization has questioned this
conceptualization of technology (e.g. Scarbrough
and Corbett, 1992; Weick, 1990a) and has argued
that the notion of CAPM as a singular ‘best prac-
tise’ technology is flawed (Clark and Staunton,
1989). Our cases revealed that adopting CAPM
was not simply a question of inserting a techno-
logy with fixed parameters into an organization.
Rather, CAPM represented a complex bundle of
technical and organizational knowledge. Success-
ful usage required that the technical systems were
unpacked and reconfigured along with the organ-
izational knowledge and infrastructure. Clark
(1987) refers to this process as ‘appropriation’ of
technology, suggesting that appropriation entails
a process of innovation design that requires choices
on the part of the adopting organization about
how to reconfigure the technology as presented
by the technology supply side within the unique
organizational context of the user. These choices
can include the decision not to adopt a technology
where it is not appropriate. Thus managerial
choices about technology design can influence
whether or not later implementation is successful.
Crucial to these choices with regard to decisions
about CAPM were the managerial cognitions in
the adopting firms at the time (Swan and Clark,
1992). Our case studies revealed that appropria-
tion of CAPM was difficult for user firms. In
particular, failures in implementing these techno-
logies could be traced to inappropriate choices
about technology design in some firms.
The term ‘cognitions’ refers here to both cognit-
ive structures (mentally represented concepts and
relationships) and cognitive processes whereby
those mentally represented concepts are con-
structed, manipulated and used in the decision-
making process. Both comprise individuals’ belief
systems or ‘mental models’ (Rummelhart and
Ortony, 1977). The paper adopts the view that
these structures and processes are constantly
evolving and changing over time (Bartlett, 1932)
and therefore ‘cognitions’ are not seen as fixed
sets of ‘things’ but rather as ways of constructing
and utilizing knowledge. This is an important point
because the noun ‘cognition/s’ is underpinned by
particular methodological assumptions – that cog-
nition can be understood using methodologies that
describe and identify its component parts (some
cognitive mapping techniques do this). In con-
trast, if ‘cognitions’ are seen as ways of processing
information, incorporating both fluid structures
and processes, then a more complete understand-
ing will be developed using methodologies that
describe cognitive structures at particular points
in time as well as methodologies that reveal the
processes through which knowledge is structured
and used for decision-making. A limitation with
cognitive mapping methodologies may be their
tendency to focus on cognitive structure rather
than on process. This paper begins by discussing
the role and relevance of cognitions for decisions
about technological innovation. Cognitive map-
ping techniques are then reviewed as potential
tools for management research and, in particular,
for gaining further insights into the innovation
process.
184 J. Swan
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