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Scripts as Determinants of Purposeful Behavior in Organizations

Academy of Management Review 1987 12(2), 265-277 open access
This paper focuses on the role cognitive scripts, a unique type of knowledge schema, play in generating purposive behaviors in organizations. Three separate but complementary areas of research (Scheme Theory, Control Theory, and Goal Setting Theory) clarify the processes that link script-type structures to purposeful behavior. Finally, implications and extensions of this comprehensive framework based on previously identified content, structure, and process issues are considered.