Construction of a measure of an organizational sensemaking system and its consequences for organizational performance

The marketing literature in recent times has focused on managements' use of information as an input to marketing strategy formulation. Market orientation, organization learning, market information processing in organizations, knowledge as an asset and information use for improved organizational performance have positioned marketing research at the forefront of inquiry about management practice in information intense environments. Some theorists maintain that organization learning and the information processing behaviours that underpin it are important facilitators of competitive advantage; with superior information processing capabilities, organizations should be able to interpret market information and formulate responses in a more timely manner than competitors, this resulting in enhanced performance outcomes. Information acquisition, dissemination behaviours and some organizational cultural and value-laden behaviours have been investigated in the literature, but the detailed organizational behavioural processes that filter information selected, interpreted and retained for future use have not been investigated. Organizational interpretation and memory behaviours are acknowledged to be hard to model and measure and have been referred to as the 'organizational black box'. This thesis addresses the 'organizational black box' of market information interpretation and memory behaviours in organizations. It does this by using sensemaking (SM) theory to construct a measurement model of SM processes in organizations called a sensemaking system (SMS). The thesis shows that a SMS operates within organizations through the interdependent relationships of constructs concerned with organizational identity, organizational memory and social interaction. The thesis also shows that the SMS has a positive relationship with organizational performance outcomes.