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The aim of this thesis is to examine the potential for methodological exchange between the fields of naturalistic decision-making (NDM) and managerial cognition. The research outlined makes a contribution towards methodological choice and research design within these fields. It also contributes by highlighting the theoretical value of applying a naturalistic mode of enquiry to the study of investment professionals. This research is situated in response to a number of calls for inter-disciplinary conversation in the study of cognition (Hodgkinson and Healey, 2008; Hodgkinson and Thomas, 1997; Lipshitz, Klein and Carroll, 2006). As such, it is located within the wider organisational debates of the social, management and behavioural sciences. Building upon the arguable inappropriateness of existing managerial cognition - behavioural decision-making (BDM) collaborations, this thesis advocates a naturalistic approach for progressing understanding of 'real-world' decision-making. In doing so, and in addressing the methodological challenges associated with these fields, the thesis examines the utility of connectionist architectures and structured qualitative approaches for the elicitation and representation of cognition. Three studies progressively examine the boundaries of cross-fertilisation using investment professionals as a backdrop for study. The results suggest inter-disciplinary collaboration to be useful not only in developing the reperto.ire of methodological tools available to the social sciences researcher, but in progressing theoretical thought (ie. through the concepts of coherence and sense-making) and in addressing epistemological debates within these fields. This thesis therefore contributes towards rapprochement of quantitative-qualitative approaches in NDM and computational-interpretative perspectives in the field of managerial cognition by modelling their dynamic interplay. The results also draw attention to the importance of understanding the socially situated aspects of expertise and the value in obtaining a multi-perspective understanding of cognition through mixed-methods designs. This thesis suggests that further collaboration both in a theoretical and methodological sense has much to offer these two fields and is an appropriate avenue for progression.

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This study investigated socialisation processes on Scottish family farms. Although land and knowledge transfers within established succession systems are important to environmental, social, economic and cultural sustainability issues, the reasons behind changing succession patterns are not well understood. Past studies have tended to focus on how external factors are associated with particular occupational choices. However, this neglects the role of socialisation processes and identity in framing behaviour. Therefore, this study looked at how children's identities are constructed and how these, in turn, frame particular occupational choices. The results suggest that children develop farmer identities according to four salient dimensions of established farmer ideal types: maleness, commitment, common sense and physical robustness. A key conclusion is that whether or not children develop farmer identities acts a good predictor of their occupational choices. Also, farmer identities are established relatively early and are relatively non-reversible, indicating the importance of the 'successful' socialisation of children into their family farm context. Further, these socialisation processes are integrated within endogenous cycles, oscillating between socialisation processes, succession processes and farm trajectories. Moreover, while issues and processes that are external to the farm and family context have no objective relevance for individuals' occupational choices, they may become subjectively relevant in the context of these endogenous cycles. Keywords: Family farming, succession, Scotland, knowledge transfer, successors, socialisation, identities, social constructedness, farmer ideal types, commitment, gender, common sense, physical robustness, internalisation, abstract identification, experience-based identification, endogenous cycles, farm business trajectories, structure, agency.

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