Intuition in decision making and its relation to uncertainty in executive accounting position
Pihlaja, Janne (2023)
2023
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023062760640
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023062760640
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was about intuition in decision making in executive accounting positions. Basically, it was about Chief Financial Officers working in uncertain situations, as intuition is believed to succeed under uncertainty. For this thesis 6 interim accounting professionals with experience in the position of interim chief financial officer were interviewed.
The purpose of this study was to find answers to four research questions. (1) "Do accounting executives who have experience working under uncertainty describe their approach with something that fits the description of intuitive decision making?"/"Do accounting executives who have experience working under uncertainty describe their approach as similar to intuitive decision making?" And second, (2) "In which context do these descriptions equate to intuition in decision making?" The third question related to the relevance of the topic and was phrased as (3) "Is the relevance of the topic identified as a critical element for the CFO role?" And the fourth question related to the factors that influence the presence of intuition: "(4) "Which factors promote and constrain decision-making methods or styles that are consistent with intuition?" It was important that intuition not be mentioned in the interviews, as previous research has shown that managers interviewed rarely talk openly about using this concept themself. The goal was to find answers to these questions by making connections to theorethical frameworks.
The theoretical framework was mainly based on the issue of intuition in decision making. Intuition was defined in this study according to the theories as a way of combining personal knowledge, called tacit knowledge, with observations to obtain a vision of something that cannot be observed through perception or rational analysis. The theoretical framework also included the links between this type of intuition phenomena and theories about executive decision making and about different tasks and roles in accounting. An important connection was made by discussing the various stereotypes of the dicotomy of accounting role stereotype (controller vs. "bean counter") with the dicotomy of intuition vs. rational perception.
The interview method was topic interviews with 15 questions, but the interviews also included open discussions with different definitive questions. This material was analyzed to extract explanations, words, and themes that were consistent with the theorethical framework and could answer the research questions.
The result was that the descriptions of the interim management accounting experts interviewed contained explanations that were consistent with the descriptions of the intuition. In the context of these descriptions, decision making involved unanticipated situations and decisions related to various parties such as other decision makers, subordinates, customers, and suppliers. Intuition also emerged as a relevant and critical topic, as the CFO was seen not only as an accounting professional, but also as a leader who must consider uncertainty and have perspective in addition to their technical skills and knowledge. The results also suggest that different organizations have different attitudes towards decision-making style, which was evaluated as intuitive. These factors had to do with the background of the organization: When there was experience with uncertainty or openness to change, actions that could be considered intuitive were taken more eagerly.
The purpose of this study was to find answers to four research questions. (1) "Do accounting executives who have experience working under uncertainty describe their approach with something that fits the description of intuitive decision making?"/"Do accounting executives who have experience working under uncertainty describe their approach as similar to intuitive decision making?" And second, (2) "In which context do these descriptions equate to intuition in decision making?" The third question related to the relevance of the topic and was phrased as (3) "Is the relevance of the topic identified as a critical element for the CFO role?" And the fourth question related to the factors that influence the presence of intuition: "(4) "Which factors promote and constrain decision-making methods or styles that are consistent with intuition?" It was important that intuition not be mentioned in the interviews, as previous research has shown that managers interviewed rarely talk openly about using this concept themself. The goal was to find answers to these questions by making connections to theorethical frameworks.
The theoretical framework was mainly based on the issue of intuition in decision making. Intuition was defined in this study according to the theories as a way of combining personal knowledge, called tacit knowledge, with observations to obtain a vision of something that cannot be observed through perception or rational analysis. The theoretical framework also included the links between this type of intuition phenomena and theories about executive decision making and about different tasks and roles in accounting. An important connection was made by discussing the various stereotypes of the dicotomy of accounting role stereotype (controller vs. "bean counter") with the dicotomy of intuition vs. rational perception.
The interview method was topic interviews with 15 questions, but the interviews also included open discussions with different definitive questions. This material was analyzed to extract explanations, words, and themes that were consistent with the theorethical framework and could answer the research questions.
The result was that the descriptions of the interim management accounting experts interviewed contained explanations that were consistent with the descriptions of the intuition. In the context of these descriptions, decision making involved unanticipated situations and decisions related to various parties such as other decision makers, subordinates, customers, and suppliers. Intuition also emerged as a relevant and critical topic, as the CFO was seen not only as an accounting professional, but also as a leader who must consider uncertainty and have perspective in addition to their technical skills and knowledge. The results also suggest that different organizations have different attitudes towards decision-making style, which was evaluated as intuitive. These factors had to do with the background of the organization: When there was experience with uncertainty or openness to change, actions that could be considered intuitive were taken more eagerly.