The Effect of Cognitive Type and Communications Style on the Communication of Management Information System Concepts

Abstract

AbstractIneffective communication has been the key to the failure of many management information systems. The communication failure is possibly due to the use of an inappropriate communication style by the sender for the cognitive type of the receiver. This paper describes an exploratory investigation of three questions concerning the effect of communication style and cognitive type on communication of MIS concepts. The first question involved whether or not two extreme communication styles would affect a receiver's understanding of MIS concepts. The second question was concerned with whether or not receivers of different cognitive types would perform better when presented with one communication style than another. The third question examined whether or not receivers would outperform one another based on cognitive type. The findings of the investigation were positive for all three questions.