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The research strategy adopted in this article is to connect two different discourses and the ideas, methods, and outputs they contain-these being cognitive neuroscience and organization theory. The main contribution of the article is to present an agenda for the field of organizational cognitive neuroscience. We define what is meant by the term, outline its background, identify why it is important as a new research direction, and then conclude by drawing on Damasio's levels of life regulation as a framework to bind together existing organizational cognitive neuroscience. The article begins by setting the wider debate behind the emergence of organizational cognitive neuroscience by revisiting the nature-nurture debate and uses Pinker to demonstrate that the connection between mind and matter has not been resolved, that new directions are opening up to better understand human nature, and that organizational cognitive neuroscience is one fruitful path forward.

In this article, we identify research possibilities for organizational cognitive neuroscience that emerge from the papers in this special issue. We emphasize the intriguing finding that the papers share a common theme-the use of cognitive neuroscience to investigate the role of emotions in organizational behavior; this suggests a research agenda in its own right. We conclude the article by stressing that there is much yet to discover about how the mind works, especially in organizational settings.

In this commentary, we reflect on the last decade of research in the field of neuromarketing and present a schematic illustration of the basic process of a typical neuromarketing study. We then identify three critical points of interest in this illustration that have not received enough discussion in neuromarketing-relevant literature, and which we consider to be somewhat problematic. These are the dominance of event-based designs in neuromarketing, the potential of alternative modalities in neuromarketing and the current focus on reverse inference in neuromarketing. We argue that, taken together, these points have substantive implications for the development of a more reflective neuromarketing, which in turn has greater potential to make a positive impact on marketing knowledge, marketing practice and public perceptions of marketing activity in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant view in neuroscience, including functional neuroimaging, is that the brain is an essentially reactive system, in which some sensory input causes some neural activity, which in turn results in some important response such as a motor activity or some hypothesized higher-level cognitive or affective process. This view has driven the rise of neuroscience methods in management and organizational research. However, the reactive view offers at best a partial understanding of how living organisms function in the real world. In fact, like any neural system, the human brain exhibits a constant ongoing activity. This intrinsic brain activity is produced internally, not in response to some environmental stimulus, and is thus termed endogenous brain activity (EBA). In the present article we introduce EBA to organizational research conceptually, explain its measurement, and go on to show that including EBA in management and organizational theory and empirical research has the potential to revolutionize how we think about human choice and behavior in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this critical essay, we respond to Lindebaum’s argument that neuroscientific methodologies and data have been accepted prematurely in proposing novel management theory. We acknowledge that building new management theories requires firm foundations. We also find his distinction between demand and supply-side forces helpful as an analytical framework identifying the momentum for the contemporary production of management theory. Nevertheless, some of the arguments Lindebaum puts forward, on closer inspection, can be contested, especially those related to the supply side of organizational cognitive neuroscience research: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data, motherhood statements and ethical concerns. We put forward a more positive case for organizational cognitive neuroscience methodologies and data, as well as clarifying exactly what organizational cognitive neuroscience really means, and its consequences for the development of strong management theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Emily Murphy, Judy Illes and Peter reiner on the neuroethics of neuromarketing and one by Tyler Perrachione and John Perrachione on developing informative research in neuroscience and marketing.

After the application form is submitted, the interview is the most important method of human resource allocation. Previous research has shown that the attractiveness of interviewees can significantly bias interview outcome. We have previously shown that female interviewers give attractive male interviewees higher status job packages compared their average looking counterparts. However, it is not known whether male interviewers exhibit such biases. In the present study, participants were asked to take part in a mock job negotiation scenario where they had to allocate either a high- or low-status job package to attractive or average looking “interviewees.” Before each decision was made, the participant's anticipatory electrodermal response (EDR) was recorded. The results supported our previous finding in that female participants allocated a greater number of high-status job packages to attractive men. Additionally, male participants uniformly allocated a greater number of low-status job packages to both attractive men and attractive women. Overall, the average looking interviewees incurred a penalty and received a significantly greater number of low-status job packages. In general, the EDR profile for both male and female participants was significantly greater when allocating the low-status packages to the average looking interviewees. However, the male anticipatory EDR profile showed the greatest change when allocating attractive women with low-status job packages. We discuss these findings in terms of the potential biases that may occur at the job interview and place them within an evolutionary psychology framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insight regarding the commentary of Jonathan Marks on the use of neuroscience in national security management. It states that Marks describe neuroscientists as provider of minority report dark art. It mentions that the neuroscientific community makes a stand that neuroscientific techniques should not be used to judicial decisions. It says that neuroscientists are addressing the issues on the application of brain imaging techniques to detect deception. K. E. Sip and colleagues note that the more complex the process, the less neuroscientists are able to apply reverse inference to related brain images. Meanwhile, it states that the brain imaging community accepts the need for vigorous conveyance for public, policymakers, and funders' concern.