Understanding and measuring linear-nonlinear thinking style for enhanced management education and professional practice

Various past studies compete and seemingly contradict one another in their presentation of valuable alternatives to rational and logical thinking for improving decision making and problem solving. We contribute here to an integration of past research and propose and test a multifaceted construct of thinking style based on two primary dimensions: linear thinking (e.g., rationality, logic, analytic thinking) and nonlinear thinking (e.g., intuition, insight, creativity). We present and validate in four separate studies a self-report diagnostic instrument (Linear-Nonlinear Thinking Style Profile or LNTSP) for measuring an individual's linear and nonlinear thinking style profile. Validation study results across student, professional, and managerial samples reveal a 4-factor model of linear and nonlinear thinking style involving the manner in which individuals attend to a particular kind of information source (internal vs. external) and subsequent linear versus nonlinear processing of that information. The results also indicate that the LNTSP has acceptable convergent validity vis-er-vis two commonly used and conceptually related instruments, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Cognitive Style Index, as well as external validity and face validity across students from different academic major programs (e.g., liberal arts vs. business and engineering), individuals from distinctly different professional careers (i.e., professional actors and accountants), and managerial and professional workshop participants. We discuss implications of these results for future research, as well as possible beneficial use of the LNTSP for management education and business practice.