Expertise-Based Intuition and Decision Making in Organizations

TLDR

Expertise-based intuition is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in rapid, effective decision making across disciplines, and understanding its development in organizations could enhance organizational practices. The review aims to integrate existing literature on expertise-based intuition in decision making. The authors review literature, define expertise-based intuition, propose developmental and performance mechanisms, discuss its multilevel nature, and outline future research directions.

Abstract

There has been a growing popular fascination with how experts make rapid and effective decisions. This interest has been paralleled in various scientific research communities. Across these disciplinary boundaries, researchers have found that intuition plays a critical role in expert decision making. Therefore, an understanding of how experts develop and use intuition effectively within organizations has the potential to greatly influence organizational practices and effectiveness. The purpose of this review is to integrate the extant literature related to expertise-based intuition—intuition rooted in extensive experience within a specific domain—in decision making. To that end, this review addresses four specific goals. First, the authors review the scientific literature on expertise and intuition to define expertise-based intuition, the type of intuition of most value to organizations. Second, the authors propose a set of descriptive developmental and performance mechanisms of expertise-based intuition in decision making. Third, the authors discuss the multilevel nature of expertise-based intuition. Fourth, the authors propose future directions for research and application.