Finding a road less traveled: Combining analysis and intuition to develop novel problem formulations

Abstract

Novel formulations of strategic problems are key to innovation and exploration. Conventional wisdom suggests that intuitive thinking, rather than rational-analytic thinking, facilitates novel problem formulations. This article proposes that intuitive thinking is insufficient and that novel formulations instead depend on sequencing rational-analytic and intuitive thinking across two phases of the problem formulation task. Two experiments using samples of strategists in organizations support the importance of analysis followed by intuition when developing novel problem formulations. This article advances the “both-and” approach to managerial cognition by investigating how harnessing intuition and analysis in combination may lead to a desirable outcome for a managerial task. This approach moves beyond the typical, “either-or” approach to cognition in past studies, which pit analysis against intuition in achieving desirable outcomes.