Holistic Cognitive Strategy in a Computer-Based Marketing Simulation Game: An Investigation of Attitudes towards the Decision-Making Process

Abstract

Past research investigating participant adaptability to game parameters in computer-based business simulation games has focused on the cognitions about specific decisions and the nature of the decisions actually made (e.g., actual price set) in order to determine the validity of this experiential approach to business education. The present study moves towards a holistic view of the decision-making process and examines whether participants develop a general understanding of their simulation environment. An experiment involving four simulation environments was undertaken to determine if students could grasp the overall nature of the environment in which they were competing. Self-reported attitude data was gathered from 389 single-player competitive companies that were randomly assigned to the four experimentally manipulated environments in a nine period competition. The results indicate that between-environment differences were obtained but not always in the direction expected.