Compromise Choices Research Articles

How thinking style influences online consumers’ responses to compromise-based service attributes

ABSTRACT Prior studies on online shopping behavior have been silent about global consumers’ compromise choices in online service attributes. Three studies investigate how and when consumers’ thinking styles affect their service responses toward online retail websites offering compromise options. The priming findings demonstrate that consumers in two cultural groups (Korea and France) are more satisfied with and more likely to repurchase from compromise-based websites in the holistic-thinking than analytic-thinking condition. This research contributes to extant literature on consumer online behavior and provides managerial insights on the practical uses of compromise tendencies for online service strategies in global retail markets.

Optimizing Three-Dimensional Trade-Off Problem of Time–Cost–Quality over Multi-Mode Projects with Generalized Logic

Clients typically tend to aim for reasonable prices, minimum possible makespans, and the best quality for the construction projects that they engage in. Evidently, weighing the available offers and coming up with an optimal decision can pose challenges for the decision makers. In this regard, the generation of a tool that helps decision makers strike a proper balance among the conflicting project objectives (i.e., time, cost, and quality) is imperative. To this end, this study proposes a method which assists in the selection of the best compromise choices among the options available for each of the project activities. In addition to the time and cost, the proposed method is designed to bring the quality aspect into the equation as well. To quantify the quality, a value referring to the weighted importance and performance of each activity is used. The proposed method is based on a modified multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) that incorporates the domination concept for the selection of the best solutions out of the potential candidates. The GA-based method is capable of handling an unlimited number of precedence relationships for each activity, and above all, it is able to capture and unravel any type of logical relationship. This very feature significantly improves the practical relevance of this research, as the parallelization of activities is a common practice in real-life projects. Planners benefit from the various types of relationships (i.e., Start to Start, Start to Finish, Finish to Start, and Finish to Finish), and the concept of lag time frequently introduces parallelization into the network. Overlapped activities, in turn, help reduce the unwanted idle times and speed up the project significantly. Accordingly, in order to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the proposed model, it has been used in the solution of four time–cost–quality (TCQ) trade-off problems, three of which are generated within the context of this paper. The practiced instances include a small benchmark TCQT problem with 18 activities taken from the literature in addition to more complex 29- and 63-activity TCQTPs produced herein based on benchmark time–cost trade-off problems. The performance of the presented approach is ultimately examined over a large-scale, real-case construction project with over four hundred activities and generalized logic in an unprecedented attempt to validate a model in the realm of TCQTPs. The successful results of the experiments reveal the effectiveness of the proposed model and corroborate the feasibility of its application by the planners amidst arduous decision-making processes.

An evolved VIKOR method for multiple-criteria compromise ranking modeling under T-spherical fuzzy uncertainty

The development of T-spherical fuzzy (T-SF) sets in qualitative multiple-criteria choice analysis has been well investigated, but little is explored about how the VIKOR (i.e., VIšekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje in Serbian) mechanism is generalized into intricate T-SF environments. This paper has the objective of propounding a creative T-SF VIKOR methodology for compromise ranking modeling in multiple criteria analysis. The exploitation of the T-SF configuration brings about superior information space representation in response to intricate realistic environments. However, because of the increased complexity of decision situations involving T-spherical fuzziness, treatment with the T-SF information arises a pragmatic difficulty in developing methodological approaches to T-SF VIKOR. In light of this concern, this paper unfolds an analytical framework for the T-SF VIKOR method predicated on new notions of an evolved T-SF score function and the Minkowski-type T-SF distance measure along with its special cases of the Manhattan-, Euclidean-, and Chebyshev-type distances. The aspired and despised T-SF characteristics can be identified supported by the evolved T-SF score function of T-SF performance ratings. This paper gives a new delineation of the group utility, individual regret, and joint generalized measures with the aid of the Minkowski-type T-SF distance measure relative to the aspired/despised T-SF characteristics. A synthetic mechanism is built to validate the standards of acceptable advantage and stability and yield the ultimate compromise choices for multiple criteria decision aiding. The practicality of the T-SF VIKOR methodology in down-to-earth decision situations has been well demonstrated through the selection issues of warehouse locations and advertisement strategies. Moreover, the developed approach has shown better application outcomes than the past methods did. The comparative study with parametric analysis has revealed the steadiness and effectiveness of the compromise choice results in T-SF circumstances.

Between a rock and a hard place: Ovipositing treefrogs navigate complex trade‐offs in the landscape of patch quality

AbstractColonizing organisms actively choosing habitats face a bewildering array of choices regarding patch quality, whether choosing for themselves, offspring, or both. Decisions are especially critical when selecting patches for long‐term use (demographic habitat selection). Thus, identifying higher quality patches based on available cues, and integrating information across multiple axes of patch quality, is critical to survival, performance, and fitness. Two critical axes of patch quality for ovipositing gray treefrogs, revealed by prior experiments, are predation risk and patch size. We utilized a unique design presenting two, suboptimal patch choices: small fishless pools and large pools with fish. Our goal was to gain an understanding of the relative priority of these two important patch characteristics for treefrogs by presenting only compromise choices and comparing these results to expectations generated by a previous experiment. In the absence of optimal patches, treefrogs increased their use of both large pools with fish and especially small fishless patches, both of which are unused when larger fishless patches are available. These results reaffirm the primacy of predation, especially the presence of fish, vividly illustrating the spatial context dependence of habitat selection behavior, as well as the complexity of the decisions faced by colonizing and ovipositing organisms in complex landscapes.

A new framework to select energy-efficient retrofit schemes of external walls: A case study

Abstract Retrofitting energy-inefficient external walls would improve the energy performance of building envelope by utilizing new insulation materials to decrease heat transfer. However, previous researches mainly based on environmental and economic considerations are still partial and could hardly provide a holistic perspective for the optimal selection of external walls retrofit techniques. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel heterogeneous multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) framework in which the ratings of schemes are described with real numbers and linguistic variables and the weights of criteria are unknown. Firstly, an evaluation index system is established covering criteria of thermal insulation property, technique, durability, and economic efficiency. Secondly, building information modeling (BIM) is utilized to determine multiple retrofit schemes and derive the heat transfer coefficient. Thirdly, after heterogeneous evaluation values are unified, a combined weighting approach is developed based on best worst method (BWM) and the similarity method before fuzzy VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method is applied to rank the alternatives. Fourthly, the applicability of the proposed framework is demonstrated by a case study of the external wall retrofit scheme selection in Beijing, which reveals that extruded polystyrene (XPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation schemes are the compromise choices with aggregating index Qk of 0.0032 and 0.0967 respectively, while rock wool insulation scheme is the last option with Qk of 0.7182. The stability of ranking results is proved with the changing weight of maximum group utility, and the effectiveness of the proposed framework is verified by a comparative analysis. This study can facilitate the implementation of building envelope retrofit by providing useful guidance for selection of external wall retrofit schemes.

Industrial robot selection using stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis for group decision making

Most of the existing studies investigate the robot selection problem (RSP) in a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) manner, from the viewpoint of a single person. This contradicts the reality that the robot selection decision is usually made by a committee or a group of experts with different expertise and concerns. For this reason, this paper proposes a group decision making (GDM) methodology for handling multiple criteria robot selection problem (MCRSP), the working process of which is (i) identifying experts, (ii) implementing the standard MCDM process and (iii) achieving a group consensus. Four objective weight determination methods, namely, Shannon entropy, CRITIC, ideal point and distance-based, are proposed to represent four experts. Experts play the role of think tank in supporting the decision maker who is responsible for MCRSP. In light of that the preference among different experts is uncertain, stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis is then applied to achieve a holistic evaluation results for identifying good compromise choices. Two illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of our methodology, and compare the results with those obtained through VIKOR and ELECTRE II.

Men and the Middle: Gender Differences in Dyadic Compromise Effects

Individual decision makers show robust tendencies toward choosing compromise options. But what happens when consumers make choices with someone else? This article examines the choice of compromise options in joint dyadic decisions. Findings reveal that preferences for compromise alternatives replicate in mixed-gender and female-female dyads as among individuals but are attenuated when two males make a choice together. Moreover, when two males make joint choices, their tendency to choose the compromise alternative decreases not only relative to other types of pairs but also to male and female individual decision makers. Evidence is presented that this happens because male-male dyadic contexts cue gender dichotomization, behavior that is consistent with masculine but not feminine gender norms. Because the extremity in decision making is maximally consistent with masculine but not feminine gender role norms, male-male dyads exhibit lower preferences for compromise options. However, if men have an opportunity to signal masculinity to one another prior to making joint compromise choices, male-male dyads prefer compromise options at proportions no different from female-female dyads. This work brings together the judgment and decision-making literature with insights from the social psychology literature, identifying a case when gender role norms have profound influences on classic judgment and decision-making effects.

When one desires too much of a good thing: The compromise effect under maximizing tendencies

The maximizing tendency denotes individuals' predisposition to look for the best option rather than settling for something that passes an internal threshold of acceptability. This research examines how maximizing affects the compromise effect: the preference for an option with relatively intermediate attribute values. Results show that maximizers attempt to maximize gains on all attributes (rather than to rely on a single, most important attribute as satisficers do) and make more compensatory tradeoffs, which leads to more often choosing a compromise option (Studies 2 & 3). Results held whether maximization was measured as an individual difference variable (Studies 1 & 2) or activated as a decision mindset (Study 3). When asked to make decisions for a (fictional) prototypical maximizer, however, people intuited fewer compromise choices (Study 4). This article concludes by discussing relevant theories on cognitive capacity, regulatory focus, and choice context effects, and by offering tangible suggestions for follow-up research.

Safety valuation methods at urban atypical intersections. Analysis of infrastructural scenarios

The definition of decision support tools for identifying ex ante evaluation issues for road safety measures is a new challenge for policymakers and designers managing road networks with the intention of improving traffic safety for roads of their competence. This is consistent with explicit strategies on sustainability in the transport sector established at European level, considering road safety as an essential prerequisite to warrant a sustainable mobility. Based on these considerations, the need for evaluation instruments of safety conditions both for existing infrastructural schemes and for new road installations is recently arisen so that the identification of risks involved in a particular road infrastructure is easier, as well as the definition of the priorities of intervention by means of technical measures. This is true in particular for road junctions characterized by a configuration not conforming to those ones recognized as safer. On this regard, the results of safety evaluations at roundabouts are not an exhaustive reference for geometric design where organizational schemes for circular intersections are similar to roundabouts but resulting from compromise choices as regards one or more geometric features of the roundabout. For this kind of atypical intersections specific safety problems are found, particularly in urban areas, due to existing constraints of different kind and the great variety of geometric layouts they take on. Moreover, in these cases the possibility of applying the safety methods proposed in the literature regarding traditional roundabouts, as well as the road safety audit procedures, is also compromised. Based on these considerations, in this paper ten case studies of this kind of intersections have been examined in order to verify the effectiveness of the risk analysis proposed by means of an infrastructural scenarios method. From the methodological point of view, the application of the accident delocalization procedure has allowed to highlight in relative terms the riskiness of different infrastructural scenarios arranging the organizational schemes of intersections. Moreover, the proposed method can represent a useful tool for safety diagnostic analysis being able to provide informations for policymakers and designers in order to address the infrastructural scenarios and the road schemes that need to be tested. Keywords circular intersection, infrastructural scenario, risk analysis, road safety, roundabouts Language: en

Men in Traditional and Nontraditional Careers: Gender Role Attitudes, Gender Role Conflict, and Job Satisfaction

Men established in traditional (mechanical engineering, n = 100) and nontraditional (elementary school counseling, n = 100) careers were compared on their career compromise choices (sex type vs. prestige), adherence to masculinity ideology, gender role conflict, and job satisfaction. The engineers tended to choose sex type over prestige; the school counselors indicated a clear preference for prestige. The engineers reported more traditional gender role attitudes. The gender role variables had little predictive value for the career compromise choices. The Gender Role Conflict Scale (J. M. O'Neil, B. J. Helms, R. K. Gable, L. David, & L. S. Wrightsman, 1986) Conflict Between Work and Family Relations subscale predicted job satisfaction for both groups.

Courage, compromise or capitulation: human resource practitioners under ethical duress

The Australian public sector has undergone significant changes involving managerialism, privatisation, devolution and downsizing, as well suffering scandals in some jurisdictions. This presents ethical challenges for Human Resource Management Practitioners (HRPs), especially where their own professional values and organisational expediency requirements come into conflict. This has added to the complexity of HRP work and can often result in opposing pressures to comply with unethical directions or expectations. This research in three Australian public sector jurisdictions, investigated senior HRP ethical decision-making and the choices they are likely to make when confronting specific ethical dilemmas. The research confirmed the increasing frequency and complexity of morally hazardous situations in HRP work in this sector. It also confirmed that HRPs are under pressure to comply with unethical directions or expectations and that they make compromise choices, rather than ideal choices, when confronted with such situations.

SAFETY DIAGNOSTIC METHOD IN URBAN CIRCULAR INTERSECTIONS

The current knowledge of traffic safety in roundabouts is not a complete reference for geometric design; where there are organizational schemes for junctions characterized by a geometric design, quite different driving behaviors are required from those observable at roundabouts. This is often the case in urban areas, where the existing constraints, especially physical ones, render it necessary to make compromise choices relating to 1 or more geometric features of the roundabout. The aim of this study is to explain the accident phenomenology of this kind of road scheme, with reference to the most frequent accidents for the junctions examined in different traffic and risk exposure conditions. The study also aims to verify the effectiveness of risk analysis by means of an infrastructural scenarios method, devised in prior research by the author. To deduce the contribution of the accident-causing factors to each type of accident and evaluate the relative contribution in determining the level of risk for various scenarios, the risk model is checked considering specific accident classes. Results confirm applicability of the risk evaluation method to urban road schemes, characterized by certain geometric features; moreover, in terms of the highest interest to road designers, they provide useful elements for evaluating effects of deviations from design rules on urban road safety.

A comparison of Australian and Canadian occupational therapy students' career choices

AbstractThe aims of this study were to explore values, and life‐role salience differences within occupational groups in different cultures, using Australian and Canadian occupational therapy students as examples; and to examine the effects of compromise choices by exploring differences between those who chose occupational therapy as their first career preference and those who had other first career preferences. Assessment tools included Super's (1983) Work Importance Study (WIS) instruments, and a tailored questionnaire, previously used with a national sample of Canadian occupational therapy students to assess their locus of control, work experience, career preference and compromise choices (Madill et al., 1986a; Lokan & Esdaile, 1994). These tests were administered to 203 senior (fourth year) students in the School of Occupational Therapy at La Trobe University, Melbourne, in 1993 and 1994. There were significant differences on several variables of the Salience and Value Scales, and the tailored questionnaire between Australian students from the 1993 cohort and Canadian students, and between students for whom occupational therapy had been a first, or later preference in 1993, and whose first choice had been to study physical therapy in 1994. A number of issues related to student selection and ultimate career choices are raised. Copyright © 1997 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

Clothing and the Social Organization of Gender Perception: A Developmental Approach

Young girls' symbolic associations of clothing styles with behaviors and personality traits were studied in relation to developmental factors. The Measure of Attitudes Toward Clothing for Play (MACP) was used to examine how and why four different clothing styles were matched with play activities in Study 1 and traits in Study 2. Ninety-five girls, aged 2 through 10 years in the initial testing, served as subjects for Study 1; 43 of these girls participated in the longitudinal and trait components of the study four years later. Both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal data from Study 1 revealed an increased tendency with age to associate unisexual styles with physically active and aggressive play behaviors. In contrast, girls of all ages, but especially the older ones, tended to associate the frilliest clothing style with doll play. Data from Study 2 revealed a trend for traits related to interpersonal attraction (e.g., concern with appearance and popularity) to be matched with the frilliest dress, while traits related to aggression, strength, and bravery were associated with the most unisexual style (jeans). Additional data suggested that, by middle childhood, females have not only the cognitive flexibility to develop compromise choices but also the ability to interpret clothing imagery using contextual qualifications. The data are discussed in light of a framework exploring gender and clothing imagery, taking into account symbolic, cognitive, and cultural considerations.

Compromise: the forgotten dimension of career decision-making

Abstract The study of compromise in career decision-making has been neglected. Out of Pryor's adoption of Gottfredson's compromise formulation, a programme of research was undertaken to investigate the basic dimensions of career compromise. The results of four separate studies are reported, investigating compromise conceptions, compromise plans, compromise choices and compromise interventions. These data support the importance of the three Gottfredson dimensions — psychological characteristics, prestige and sex-type-in the process of career compromise. The major deficiency of the Gottfredson compromise model is the need for elaboration of several of its aspects, such as sex differences in compromise strategies, ‘refusal to compromise', the existence of more than one compromise paradigm and the interrelatedness of the compromise dimensions.

Compromise: The Forgotten Dimension of Career Decision-Making

Abstract The study of compromise in career decision-making has been neglected. Out of Pryor's adoption of Gottfredson's compromise formulation, a programme of research was undertaken to investigate the basic dimensions of career compromise. The results of four separate studies are reported, investigating compromise conceptions, compromise plans, compromise choices and compromise interventions. These data support the importance of the three Gottfredson dimensions — psychological characteristics, prestige and sex-type-in the process of career compromise. The major deficiency of the Gottfredson compromise model is the need for elaboration of several of its aspects, such as sex differences in compromise strategies, ‘refusal to compromise', the existence of more than one compromise paradigm and the interrelatedness of the compromise dimensions.

Exploring the process of compromise in career decision making

Although the process of compromise has long been regarded as fundamental to career decision making, it has received little theoretical or empirical attention. This study explores the role of three variables (prestige, sex type, and vocational interests) which, according to L. S. Gottfredson (1981, Journal of Counseling Psychology Monograph, 28, 545–579), strongly influence peoples' compromise choices. In general terms some of her basic propositions concerning the relative influence of the three variables are supported. However, the situation appears more complex than Gottfredson suggests, as a variety of compromise strategies were identified.

Alternative Choices in Social Dilemmas

A social dilemma (Dawes, 1980) may be characterized as a situation in which members of a group are faced with a conflict between maximizing personal interests and maximizing collective interests. Previous research with social dilemma games has provided two choices, cooperative and competitive, and the results have shown that most subjects attempt to maximize selfish interests (respond competitively), resulting in an outcome that is detrimental to collective welfare. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which the introduction of an alternative (compromise) choice would facilitate cooperative behavior. Two experiments were conducted using three-person groups of undergraduate males as subjects. Experiment 1 contrasted cooperative choices in a two-choice game with a three-choice game, and as hypothesized, the results showed significantly greater cooperation in the three-choice game. Experiment 2 contrasted different types of compromise choices in a three-choice game, and the results indicated significantly different response proportions in these games. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed in terms of hypotheses proposed by Schelling, Platt, and Osgood.

YOUNG CHILDREN'S YIELDING TO FALSE ADULT JUDGMENTS

The hypothesis that girls would yield more than boys to intermittent false judgments given by two adults, in a face-to-face confrontation, was tested by allowing 56 children of each sex, with an age range of 6-8 years, to see two adults make manifest errors in the selection of the correct match for a standard stimulus. Although the hypothesis was rejected on a strictly statistical basis, sex differences in yielding patterns were sufficiently strong to warrant further investigation. Approximately half of the children of each sex were able to maintain independence of judgment throughout. Of those children who yielded, more followed the adults completely than made compromise choices. Few children detected faking. A test for cross-sex effects between the adults and the children was insignificant.