The topic of intuition is becoming increasingly popular in leadership research, despite the lack of consensus among researchers on either the definition of intuition or how to measure the occurrence of intuition in organizations. In contrast to the more popular data-dependent decision-making process that requires an analysis of data and draws to a logical conclusion, intuitive decisions rely on pattern recognition of a familiar situation that is accessed subconsciously resulting in an immediate conclusion. The relationship between the two decision-making approaches and organizational performance was investigated in a recent study of leaders in 234 corporations (Szanto, 2022). The researcher discovered that decision-making that blended data-based analysis and intuition was associated with greater business results and better operational performance over organizations that only used data-driven decisions. In addition, it was found that companies were more prepared for change and had a greater capacity to manage change more effectively when using an intuitive decision-making approach. Companies that only used data-driven decisions were less responsive to change.
Reference
Szanto, R. (2022). Intuitive decision-making and firm performance. Journal of Decision Systems, 31, 50–59.
