Effects of cognitive diversity on relationship conflict, agreement-seeking behaviour and decision quality: a study of Chinese management teams

Abstract

This study investigates (a) the effects of cognitive diversity on agreement seeking behaviour and relationship conflict, and (b) effects of agreement-seeking behaviour and relationship conflict on decision quality. Using structured survey instrument, this paper gathered data from 252 senior executives from mainland China and analysed the data using the regression techniques to test the hypotheses. The results support that cognitive diversity is positively related to relationship conflict and negatively related to agreement-seeking behaviour. The results also support the hypotheses that agreement-seeking behaviour is positively related to decision quality and relationship conflict is negatively related to decision quality. Though the study is related to Chinese executives, the findings from the study that cognitive diversity enhances interpersonal conflict and discourages agreement-seeking behaviour contribute to the strategic decision-making literature.