Understanding Decision Making During a Crisis: An Axiomatic Model of Cognitive Decision Choices

Abstract

This study investigated factors that influence the strategy process during a crisis within the chemical industry. It examined key organizational, environmental, and management factors—comprehensiveness, formalization, politicization, impact of the crisis, financial reporting—for their role in the strategy process during a crisis using regression analysis. The findings indicate that the strategy process during a crisis is influenced by several factors; specifically, politicization, formalization of the decision-making process, financial reporting, and the impact of the crisis. This study proposes an axiomatic model of cognitive decision making during a crisis. It suggests that decision making during a crisis is a complex problem-solving process contingent on several variables, which can be arranged on a scale with the proscriptive variables (variables that impede or hinder accommodation) at one end of the scale and supportive variables (variables that help advocate an organization’s position) at the other end of the scale, which when cross-joined with the advocacy/accommodation continuum yield a Cartesian product of communication options. Other implications and future areas for research are suggested.

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