Strategizing with Tied Hands: Adaptive Cognitive Processing in the Screening of Bidding Opportunities

Sensemaking theory has illuminated how organizations influence the way in which individuals perceive their environment (Weick, 1995). Yet, organizations may not only shape what their members think about the world but also the very basal cognitive processes of how they think about it. In this study, we explore the cognitive strategies emerging for screening of competitive bidding opportunities, and compare them to earlier findings of the entrepreneurial literature. The findings offer new insights for academia in three regards: first, by exploring the differences in selection of cognitive strategies for contrasting contexts, we provide empirical validation from outside the laboratory for theoretically suggested relationships between consciously or subconsciously adopted cognitive strategies and the decision context. Second, by situating the research in the organizational context, we enable the discussion of the role of organizational practices on the shaping of a specific decision context. Third, we expand the current research program of simple heuristics to a potential method from the neighbouring fields.