Abstract

In recent years, scenario planning has enjoyed wide acceptance among practitioners and academics
as a decision support aid in the strategy formulation process. Although different approaches
to scenario planning are possible, most of them are usually deployed in a group
workshop format and led by a facilitator. This work setting for scenario planning activity has
led managerial cognition scholars to argue that the cognitive diversity of the workshop participants
is likely to be a critical determinant of the effectiveness of scenario planning interventions.
The purpose of this paper is thus to explore this proposition further, by articulating a
theoretical framework to inform the investigation of the role of cognitive style in scenario
planning interventions. Specifically, the framework highlights the potential impact of individual
differences in ways of perceiving and judging on participants' observed behaviours within
the scenario planning workshops. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of our
framework for research and practice of scenario planning workshops.