Can Nudging for Wise Reasoning Influence Decision-Making?

Trust in corporations is down, information is abundant, and technology is developing faster than ethical review boards can keep pace. Now, more than ever, it falls to business leaders to make decisions that benefit the common good and promotes the health and welfare of all stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, employees, customers). Drawing on historical theories of wisdom introduced by Greek philosophers and further developed by psychologists and economists, practical wisdom can positively impact decision-making in business leadership. This paper presents insights from an experimental study on how nudging for wise reasoning strategies may influence decision-making regarding ill-structured problems for the common good. Study participants (n = 419) reviewed a fictitious ill-structured business problem and made a pre-study yes/no vote. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control group or one of two experimental arms: the nudge perspective (NP) group or the nudge uncertainty (NU) group. The experimental groups were provided with a short wise-reasoning nudge and asked to vote again. The NP group received information providing a new perspective on the problem, and the NU group received a prompt to consider future uncertainty. The control group participants reported the highest confidence in the quality of their decision-making processes and in the wisdom of their decisions but were also significantly more likely to report after the fact that they wish they had considered ethics in their decision.