Performance implications of matching adaption and innovation cognitive style with explicit and tacit knowledge resources

Some organizations are more effective at using their knowledge resources than are others, and this can lead to performance differences among organizations with equivalent resources. One aspect of organizations that helps to explain differences in effective use of organizational resources is the cognitive styles of organization members. We propose that a better matching of cognitive style and knowledge resources will improve organizational performance through improved knowledge resource utilization. In particular, and based on adaption-innovation theory (Kirton, 1976), we propose that teams of individuals with an adaptor cognitive style will perform better when explicit knowledge is available and teams of individuals with an innovator cognitive style will perform better when tacit knowledge is available. In addition, when there are significant differences in cognitive styles among a team of organizational members we suggest that training can improve the successful use of available organizational knowledge resources.

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