Shared strategic cognition in Flemish city councils: the relevance of political and demographic group characteristics

A shared understanding of strategic priorities within decision-making teams is important for strategy implementation. However, although upper echelons theory argues that group diversity has a negative impact on shared strategic cognition, research on the impact of group diversity measures based on political characteristics is lacking. Consequently, this study uses data from 1,740 city councillors to assess the impact of political group diversity on shared strategic cognition within Flemish city councils. The study results underline the importance of tailoring research to the contingencies of public organizations: political diversity measures are stronger related to shared strategic cognition than ‘traditional’ demographic diversity measures.