Managerial Collective Cognitions: An Examination of Similarities and Differences of Cultural Orientations Beverly B. Tyler and Devi R. Gnyawali North Carolina State University; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University  Using the context of market orientation, we examine how an exemplary business’s market orientation culture is reflected in managers’ mental models, evaluate how mental models and perceived behaviours differ across hierarchical levels and functions, and compare the cognitive values and beliefs or the cognitive aspects of market orientation culture with behavioural aspects. Results from a rich, multi-method, case study suggest that while managers in the business share core beliefs regarding the customer dimension of market orientation, their beliefs regarding competitors, technology and inter-functional coordination dimensions vary widely across the levels and functions of the business. We found differences in terms of both the integration between the four dimensions of market orientation and the depth of knowledge within the dimensions. Our findings reveal that customer rather than competitor beliefs are the most important commonly shared beliefs in successful companies, leading us to encourage cognitive researchers to move beyond competitor analysis when examining managerial cognition. Another implication for future research is that a strong market orientation implies common core beliefs regarding customer dimensions but does not imply that all beliefs will be or should be shared. From the methodological standpoint, we find that cognitive mapping techniques provide rich insights into a business’s market orientation culture that are not gained from behavioural methods alone. INTRODUCTION A key question in the managerial cognition literature is the extent to which individuals within organizations have similar or different cognitions ( Hodgkinson, 1997b, 2002; Jelinek and Litterer, 1994; Lyles and Schwenk, 1992; Porac and Thomas, 1990; Porac et al., 1989; Reger and Huff, 1993; Reger and Palmer, 1996). The focus of empirical studies, however, has been on cognition related to industry and competition (Daniels et al., 1994, 1995, 2002) rather than a more comprehensive set of external and internal factors. Cognitive researchers have also been interested in the connection between shared cognitions and behaviours in organizations (Barr et al., 1992; Hodgkinson et al., Address for reprints: Beverly B. Tyler, Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, College of Management, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7229, Raleigh, NC 27695-7229, USA (Beverly_Tyler@ncsu.edu). © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Journal of Management Studies 46:1 January 2009 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00795.x