An introduction to intuition theory and practice: A summary and a research agenda

Abstract

Welcome to the third handbook in the intuition series by Edward Elgar Publishing. It took ten years to get to this point – and what a journey it has been. We celebrated a decade of annual intuition symposia at the Academy of Management meeting last year, where new collaborations were struck and innovative approaches to intuition research explored. It confirms that intuition is gradually entering the mainstream, as theorists and practitioners alike call for new ways to conduct business and survive in the twenty-first century. It also shows that the initial research has shifted from our original narrow focus on expert intuition using psychology-based tools to a broader investigation of topics that includes a variety of qualitative methods to offer additional richness and depth. Work in the expert stream continues on a more fine-grained scale but it is complemented by insights from other streams and disciplines, reaching as far as neuroscience, quantum physics or clinical studies. Finally, more empirical work started emerging. This does not mean that all conceptual differences have been reconciled but there is a sufficient consensus to move forward under the original premise of our intuition community to ‘agree to respectfully disagree.’