When Ignorance isn’t Bliss: Managers’ Illusion of Explanatory Depth for Emerging Digital Technologies and the Promise of Visualization
Type
working paper
Date Issued
2022-04
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
This article examines the effect of visualizing one’s own understanding of digital technologies on the self-calibration of knowledge in the context of a specific knowledge bias, the “illusion of explanatory depth”. In two experiments, we investigate the size and impact of this illusion on experienced managers and their understanding of contemporary and strategy-relevant emerging digital technologies and examine the potential debiasing effect of self-sketched visualizations on the self-calibration of managerial knowledge. The findings show that experienced managers suffer from a significant illusion concerning their understanding of strategy-relevant emerging digital technologies and that visualizing one’s current level of understanding supports the accurate calibration of one’s knowledge. Thus, this research stimulates the extension of existing theory on overconfidence and especially overestimation in strategic management. The findings point to the promise that sketched visualizing is a helpful modality for the detection and subsequent re-calibration of biased knowledge.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Subject(s)
Contact Email Address
christian.muntwiler@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
266117
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When Ignorance isn’t Bliss Eppler Muntwiler 2022.pdf
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362.65 KB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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