Uncovering strategic assumptions: Understanding managers' ability to build representations

Strategic management researchers are increasingly showing interest in the underlying assumptions behind strategic decisions made by managers. This article intends to revisit the conceptual framework currently available to study managers' representations. Many researchers in cognitive and social sciences have indeed suggested that construction may be a better metaphor for cognition than the traditional perception paradigm. We suggest that management research could learn a great deal on this matter from other social sciences. Two main arguments are put forward. First we argue that the cognitive/computational framework is not relevant to address the epistemological challenge of describing managerial cognition. Second we argue that adopting a perspective focused on either the individual or the collective level is not suited for the challenge. We suggest at least two simultaneous moves thus leading to a paradigmatic shift: introducing the social (and emotional) dimensions into the picture and recognizing the need for Interactionism as the core of representation-building processes.