Categorizing Strategic Issues: Links to Organizational Action

A general conceptual model and specific hypotheses about how the meanings attached to strategic issues by decision makers are translated into organizational responses are presented. The model integrates an interpretive view of organizational decision making with cognitive categorization theory. The hypotheses focus on how labeling an issue as either a threat or an opportunity affects both subsequent information processing and the motivations of key decision makers. It is argued that decision makers' cognitions and motivations systematically affect the processing of issues and the types of organizational actions taken in response to them. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.