An Examination of the Cognitive Processes Used to Handle Employee Job Problems

Abstract

This study examined the cognitive processes involved in handling job problems in two business organizations. Two situational characteristics, discrepancy between a goal and performance and the frequency of a problem's occurrence, and two individual characteristics—cognitive complexity and the accessibility of “script tracks” in memory (conceptual structures)—were found to be associated with these cognitive processes. Job complexity moderated the relationship of cognitive complexity with promotability.