Deliberate cognition is an important mechanism for overcoming inertia. Yet, the precise nature of cognition that propels decision-makers to endorse novelty is not well understood. We propose that expertise distance is a fundamental force shaping decision-makers' willingness to invest in novelty. We further suggest that the level of mental construal through which information is processed moderates the effect of expertise distance on investment propensity, principally by changing decision-makers' perceptions of an idea's novelty and usefulness. We test our theory in two studies. Study 1 is a field study of 120 decision-makers considering a novel technological idea—quantum key distribution. Study 2 is an experiment that conceptually replicates our first study. Our findings contribute to the debate on strategic cognition and the microfoundations of strategic adaptation.

中文翻译：

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量子飞跃还是婴儿步？专业知识距离、解释水平以及投资新技术理念的倾向

刻意认知是克服惰性的重要机制。然而，推动决策者认可新颖性的认知的确切性质尚不清楚。我们认为，专业知识距离是影响决策者投资新奇事物意愿的基本力量。我们进一步建议，处理信息的心理解释水平可以调节专业知识距离对投资倾向的影响，主要是通过改变决策者对一个想法的新颖性和实用性的看法。我们在两项研究中检验了我们的理论。研究 1 是对 120 位决策者的实地研究，他们考虑了一种新的技术理念——量子密钥分配。研究 2 是一个在概念上复制我们的第一项研究的实验。