Knowledge style profiling: An exploration of cognitive, temperament, demographic and organizational characteristics among decision makers using advanced analytical technologies

The objective of this research was to explore the possibilities of identifying knowledge style factors that could be used as central elements of a professional business analyst's (PBA) performance attributes at work for those decision makers that use advanced analytical technologies on decision making tasks. Indicators of knowledge style were sought on the basis of cognitive style and temperament, whether as individual or additive factors, along with specific demographic and organizational characteristics as potential influencers of these knowledge style types.;The temperament types were based on those identified by Keirsey & Bates (1984) and Keirsey (1998), while cognitive style was based on the index developed by Allinson and Hayes (1996) using a modified scoring system as put forth by Hodgkinson and Sadler-Smith (2003a, 2003b). Other individual (demographic) and organizational factors were investigated separately to explore their potential influence toward any predispositions in effectively typing professional business analysts (PBAs) within this task environment.;Insights into the feasibility of developing a combined profile of a PBA's cognitive style, temperament, demographic and organizational characteristics---a Knowledge Style Sorter (KSS)---through the initial identification of PBA "types" via a Knowledge Style Type identifier (KST) are offered. The study analyzed and reported on twenty independent variables through dependency-based, non parametric measures of associations via cluster analysis along with appropriate descriptive statistics.