Toward an Understanding of Cognitive Consensus in a Group Decision-Making Context

This article consolidates and integrates what has been learned about group-level interpretation into a common theoretical language and conceptual foundation on which future research can be based. The term cognitive consensus refers to similarity among group members regarding how key issues are defined and conceptualized. In addition to addressing neglected definitional issues, this article embeds cognitive consensus in an input-process-outcome framework, and propositions are offered concerning the variables that both impact and result from its development. It is argued that the notion of cognitive consensus provides a valuable means for understanding how decision makers collectively make sense of ill-structured issues in a group setting and is conceptually appealing because it integrates group, cognitive, negotiation, and decision-making research.