| A key challenge managers face is making sense of what complex, ambiguous issues mean for their businesses. Models of this sensemaking process highlight the role that information gathering plays. In this dissertation, I test whether social network, personality, and contextual characteristics affect three measures of information amount: (1) the time spent searching for information, (2) the effectiveness of that search, and (3) the diversity of information found. I then test whether these three measures of information amount predict two key aspects of individuals' interpretations: (1) changes in the extent to which they see electronic commerce (e-commerce) as a threat and/or opportunity to their businesses, and (2) the integrative complexity of their thinking about how the issue of e-commerce will affect their businesses.; The research setting involved two executive-level classes at the University of Minnesota, and 72 individuals participated. The methodology involved four waves of data collection: (1) an initial survey measuring individuals' social network, personality, and contextual characteristics, (2) a survey measuring managers' perceptions that the issue of e-commerce is a threat and/or opportunity to their businesses, (3) an information log where individuals recorded details of their information search process as they completed a report on how e-commerce would affect their businesses, and (4) a second threat and/or opportunity survey. The data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis.; Results showed that individuals' social network size was significantly related to the amount of information they gathered. In addition, there were significant interaction effects between network size and personality (i.e., need for cognition), as well as average tie strength and personality, on the amount of information gathered. Managers with larger networks gathered more information, especially if they had a high need for cognition. High need-for-cognition managers with social networks filled with weaker ties also spent more time gathering information. Finding more information was related to changes in perceptions toward seeing e-commerce as more of a threat. However, if that information was diverse, perceptions changed toward seeing e-commerce as less of a threat. Interestingly, there were no significant findings related to the integrative complexity of individuals' thinking about the issue of e-commerce. |
