Castles in the air? The mediating role of managerial cognition in the adoption and innovation of business models triggered by emerging digital technologies

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this research was to investigate the mediating role of managerial cognition in the adoption and innovation of business models triggered by emerging digital technologies. Firstly, we explored how managers cognitively conceptualize emerging digital technologies (i.e., Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things and Big Data, and the Metaverse) as enriched business model opportunities. Secondly, we strived to identify the factors involved in managers’ decision-making process when adopting the aforementioned technologies. To achieve this purpose, we carried out an explorative qualitative study with an epistemological approach based on social constructivism. Through exploratory interviews, we collected data from managerial personnel of a wide range of industries involved in strategic decisions in the digitalization sphere. Also, to enhance the cognitive richness of our primary qualitative data, we utilized the cognitive mapping method in which we asked managers to illustrate their thought processes by drawing a mind map. Finally, by applying a grounded theory methodology, we inductively developed a range of new theoretical propositions describing the factors involved in managers’ decision-making process i.e., challenges, drivers and motivators, decision-making determinants, enabling factors, induced changes, and expected benefits. Following this method, we developed a novel framework by integrating existing theory on cognitive mechanisms with the factors of the decision-making process identified in the primary data collected. We analytically demonstrated the linkages between the cognitive mechanisms and all the identified decision-making factors. In terms of practical relevance, our study can be seen as a useful resource for managers. For example, the proposed framework can stimulate managers’ self-reflection and metacognition capabilities, resulting in an improved understanding of cognitive mechanisms in all phases of the decision-making process. For these reasons, we believe that our findings could ultimately help managers develop strategies to improve their decision-making processes and prevent them from building “castles in the air” when it comes to the adoption of emerging digital technologies.