Schema-based sensemaking of the decision to participate and its effects on job performance

This article develops and tests an inductive framework based on the situated cognition perspective for uncovering cognitive schemas that people activate during sensemaking processes. This research investigates the cognitive schemas of 167 employees working in a call center using a laddering methodology based on the eliciting of reasons and justifications for those reasons. A cognitive cause map is also derived. Finally, the study demonstrates how cognitive schemas that arise in the interpretation process are efficacious in explaining job performance.