Decision-making Styles Research Articles

Assessing public a priori acceptance of fully automated vehicles using an extended technology acceptance model and importance-performance analysis

Fully automated vehicles (FAVs) are anticipated to enter the passenger vehicle market soon. Given the uncertainties surrounding user adoption of this emerging technology, research is needed to understand their user acceptance. While most studies on the acceptance of automated vehicles have been conducted in upper-middle-income or high-income developed countries, similar research in middle-income countries is limited. This study aims to evaluate a priori acceptance of FAVs in a middle-income developing country by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Trust, subjective norms, perceived safety risk and four decision-making styles (Thoroughness, Hesitancy, Social resistance, and Perfectionism) were included in the extended model. This study aims to evaluate a priori acceptance of FAVs in a middle-income developing country by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Trust, subjective norms, perceived safety risk and four decision-making styles (Thoroughness, Hesitancy, Social resistance, and Perfectionism) were included in the extended model. Structural Equation Modeling was applied to confirm model validation by using data from 1026 drivers from different cities in Iran. A multi-group analysis was conducted to assess whether the relationships between model constructs vary across different demographic and background groups. Additionally, an importance-performance analysis was performed to gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing behavioral intention. The findings of the model highlighted that beyond the original TAM scales, subjective norms were the strongest predictor in explaining drivers' intentions to use FAVs. Initial trust also moderately contributed to explaining user acceptance of FAVs. The results also revealed that among decision-making styles, thoroughness positively affected behavioral intention through trust, while social resistance had an indirect negative effect on intention. The findings showed that effect of the perceived safety risk on behavioral intention through the initial trust was confirmed; however, importance-performance map analysis revealed that a significant improvement was observed in the safety area that could still be obtained. It is suggested that policymakers start promoting the usefulness and ease of use of FAVs through advertisements, social media, public campaigns and autonomous vehicle test ride events to facilitate the adoption of FAVs when available in countries with similar sociocultural contexts.

Relationship between dominant decision-making style and creativity of nursing managers: A cross-sectional study.

This study aims to investigate the connection between dominant decision-making style and creativity among nursing managers. The dominant style of decision-making nursing managers use definitely affects the quality of decisions. Also, in another way, it can develop a skill of creative thinking that may influence the entire health care system. Data from 229 nursing managers in four university hospitals were gathered using a cross-sectional study methodology and questionnaires about general decision-making styles and managerial creativity. nursing managers are highly creative. In general, the dominant decision-making style is rational and is correlated positively with creativity. Dependent style is the second one, while it is correlated negatively and significantly with creativity. Intuitive style is the third one and correlated negatively but is insignificant with creativity. Regression analysis revealed that only three styles have an effect on creativity: rational (positive), dependent (negative), and avoidant (negative), respectively. The most dominant style is rational, which has the highest effect, which is positive on creativity. The dependent is the second dominant style and has a negative effect. Whereas intuitive is the third dominant style and did not have any effect on creativity.

Behaving with style: investigating the influence of decision-making styles on the innovative work behavior of managers

PurposeThis paper explores the relationship between managers’ decision-making style (DMS) and innovative work behavior (IWB). Our study addresses a notable gap in existing research, as the relationship between DMS and IWB has been unexplored.Design/methodology/approachWe rely on data from a sample of managers from diverse companies in Kosovo to test our hypotheses. We use structural equation modeling for data analysis, and as a complementary test, we perform a necessary condition analysis.FindingsManagers who adopt rational and intuitive decision-making styles tend to demonstrate higher IWB, whereas those who favor dependent, avoiding or spontaneous decision-making styles behave less innovatively. Rational style is a necessary but not sufficient condition for IWB of managers.Practical implicationsThe innovative work behavior of managers is significantly influenced by their decision-making style. Based on this relationship, our research can contribute to decision-making training, personnel selection and development, career planning and organizational innovation initiatives.Originality/valueOur study is the first to investigate the relationship between decision-making styles and innovative work behavior with a sample of managers. Furthermore, it is the first study to investigate the stylistic determinants of the innovative work behavior of managers in a non-Western context.

Consumer style inventory (CSI) re-examined: The case of millennial decision-making style in a developing market

This study investigates the buying styles of young consumers, especially the millennials—Gen Y, and Gen Z whose idiosyncrasies and consumption peculiarities are quite different from the older generations. Besides Sproles and Kendall’s eight (8) consumer-style inventory dimensions, this study presents new dimensions and develops six constructs that define young consumers’ decision-style inventory in a developing market. The study population consisted of all younger consumers—Gen Y, and Gen Z in Lagos State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty-five (125) respondents were selected randomly across all 20 Local Governments in Lagos State, Nigeria. Factor analyses through varimax rotation, latent root criterion (eigenvalue = 1), screen plot test and the percentage of variance were conducted to determine the significant factors to retain among the variables. The findings clearly showed that newly developed CSI constructs in this study (sexiness, trendiness, global branding, smartness, socialisation and entertainment) were strong and significant among young consumers’ decision-making styles. The six (6) constructs developed showed that the younger consumers’ consumption styles are evolving, becoming sophisticated and relatively dynamic, hence the reliance on Sproles and Kendall’s dimensions to measure the younger consumers’ consumption decision styles will be inadequate in business/behaviour strategy development. The dimensions of entertainment, sexy, social, trendy, smartness and global branding variables are mostly underpinned and dominate considerations in purchase decision styles and behaviours among young consumers.

The Digitalized Assessment for Decision-Making (DAsDec)

Decision-making processes involve a dynamic interplay between cognitive and emotional mechanisms. While traditional models address these components, few tools assess decision-making in an ecological, multi-dimensional way: the Digitalized Assessment for Decision-Making (DAsDec) tool was developed to meet this need. DAsDec evaluates decision-making skills across five key domains: decision style, strategies, effectiveness, awareness, and metacognition. Its modular structure allows for flexible administration and is adaptable to various contexts, including educational, organizational, legal, and sports fields. The tool integrates behavioral, psychophysiological, and neurocognitive measurements, such as autonomic indices and wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) application, providing a comprehensive analysis of decision-making abilities. DAsDec offers unique insights by combining self-assessment, realistic simulations, and objective neurocognitive data, allowing for a thorough evaluation of the multicomponential facets of decision process. Ultimately, this commentary discusses how this tool holds great potential for enhancing decision-making skills across a range of applied contexts.

To repeat or not repeat? A matter of economic reward and individual differences

This study explores the tendency to prefer more repetitive (but highly economic rewarding) tasks over less repetitive (and less economic rewarding) tasks in a sample of junior professionals, as well as their relationship to individual differences. Behavioral performance at a novel decisionmaking task, decision-making and personality profiles were collected. Findings showed that most junior professionals seem to prefer highly repetitive tasks (with greater economic reward) than less boring and less rewarding tasks. However, a cluster approach allows distinguishing between four distinct clusters of decision-makers: the “reward seekers”, the “temporizers”, the “balancers” and the “outsiders”. Each cluster of professionals exhibits unique individual differences in terms of decision-making styles and personality profiles (except for reward responsiveness). Evaluating junior professionals decision-making profiles in choosing which tasks to carry out is extremely relevant in company selection processes, as it allows you to assign the new resource to the best job position.

Decision-making style and entrepreneurial intentions among public sector workers in Ghana

The present research endeavours to ascertain the rational decision-making style of public sector workers (PSWs) and their impact on entrepreneurial opportunities in Ghana. In particular, the study examines the mediating role of entrepreneurial intention and the moderating effect of social capital. To test the hypotheses, a sample of 358 PSWs was analysed using a structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings reveal that decision-making style has a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention, opportunity development, and opportunity creation, respectively. Furthermore, the research supports the mediating role of entrepreneurial intention, which manifests itself as a crucial conduit between decision-making style and both opportunity development and opportunity creation. The study emphasises the imperative for policymakers to foster a robust social environment that nurtures the Ghanaian PSW community. The study posits that entrepreneurial opportunity creation can be substantially enhanced by encouraging these workers to explore and create business ventures.

Individual decision styles as predictors for bias susceptibility and bias blind spots in managerial decisions

Purpose This paper aims to managerial decision styles, following the General Decision-Making Style Inventory, as potential predictors of individual bias awareness and bias blind spots, with a focus on the rational decision style. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on a survey of 50°C-1 level managers within Forbes 2000 companies. It explores their decision styles and their assessments of their own and others’ decision behavior. Findings The results show that the awareness of one’s own susceptibility to biases and bias blind spots is highly dependent on an individual’s (self-declared) decision style and type of cognitive bias; decision-makers with a strong tendency toward a rational or spontaneous decision style see themselves as less vulnerable to cognitive biases but also show a much stronger bias blind spot than those with a tendency toward other decision styles. Meanwhile, decision-makers with a strong tendency toward an intuitive decision style tend to recognize their own vulnerability to cognitive biases and even show a negative blind spot, thus seeing themselves as more affected by cognitive biases than others. Originality/value To date, decision styles have not been used as a lens through which to view susceptibility to cognitive biases and bias blind spots in managerial decision-making. As demonstrated in this article, decision styles can serve as predictors of individual awareness and susceptibility to cognitive biases and bias blind spots for managers.

Understanding leadership challenges faced by humanitarian aid workers: insights from the experiences of NNPHL training participants

This paper examines the self-reported leadership challenges experienced by humanitarian aid workers who participated in the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership (NNPHL) Program. Data were drawn from NNPHL program participants describing leadership challenges they faced in their humanitarian work. Responses were analyzed qualitatively revealing 10 broad themes of leadership challenges: (1) organizational capacity and resource constraints, (2) managerial decision-making styles, (3) bureaucracy and external influence, (4) purpose, motivation, and influence, (5) coordination and cooperation, (6) trust and cohesion within teams, (7) staff well-being and burnout, (8) identity and diversity, (9) self-efficacy and confidence, (10) security. These findings were then situated in the broader literature on challenges identified in humanitarian aid contexts. Humanitarian aid workers offer valuable first-hand insights into the leadership challenges they face in their work. Understanding leadership challenges from the perspective of aid workers provides valuable insight that can be used to inform decision-making and policy development within humanitarian organizations. The findings can also help inform and shape the development of humanitarian training programs by tailoring humanitarian education curricula to address the challenges encountered by aid workers themselves.

Exploring Patient Empowerment in Major Depressive Disorder: Correlations of Trust, Active Role in Shared Decision-Making, and Symptomatology in a Sample of Italian Patients.

Background/Objectives: Empowerment in medicine and psychiatry involves patients gaining control over health-related decisions, improving treatment adherence, outcomes, and satisfaction. This concept is especially significant in psychiatric care due to the complex challenges of mental health conditions, including stigma and impairment of emotional and cognitive functioning. We aim to investigate the correlations between patient trust, decision-making involvement, symptom severity, and perceived empowerment among individuals with Major Depression. Methods: Patients with Major Depressive Disorder were recruited in the "Policlinico G. Rodolico" psychiatry outpatient clinic from November 2022 to June 2023. Inclusion criteria: ages 18-65, ability to consent, stable condition, psychiatric medication history, and recent consultation. Exclusion criteria: psychotic features, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, high suicide risk, and severe comorbidities. Measures included the User Scale for Measuring Empowerment in Mental Health Services (SESM), Trust in Oncologist Scale (TiOS), Clinical Decision-Making Style for Patients (CDMS-P), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). Analysis used Kendall's Tau correlation and Two-One-Sided Tests procedure. Results: Seventy-three patients completed the study. No relationship was found between decision-making involvement and perceived empowerment (τ = -0.0625; p = 0.448), or between trust in psychiatrists and empowerment (τ = 0.0747; p = 0.364). An inverse correlation existed between patient involvement in therapy management and trust (τ = -0.2505; p = 0.002). Depression severity inversely correlated with empowerment (τ = -0.2762; p = <.001), but not with trust or decision-making involvement. Conclusions: The lack of significant correlations suggests that decision-making involvement and trust alone may not suffice to enhance empowerment. Trust may encourage patient passivity, while skepticism might drive active involvement. Higher empowerment is associated with less depressive symptoms, highlighting its potential connection with patient outcomes.

An Intelligent Framework for Performance Optimization of Telemedicine Center with Trust incorporating decision-making styles

An Intelligent Framework for Performance Optimization of Telemedicine Center with Trust incorporating decision-making styles

Exploring the Relationship between Decision-Making Styles and Emotion Regulation: A Study of Police Officials in Portuguese Public Security

In public security policing, where pressure is constant, effective decision-making and emotion regulation are critical, especially for leaders. These processes significantly impact upon work results, performance, officials’ health, employee well-being, and the organizational environment. This study aims to broaden the understanding of decision-making styles and emotion-regulation strategies used by police officials in the Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP). We surveyed 138 Portuguese high-ranking police officials using two self-response questionnaires, namely the Emotion Regulation in the Workplace (ReTrab) and the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ), both translated, adapted, and validated for the Portuguese police context. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, followed by correlations to explore the relationship between emotion-regulation strategies and decision-making styles. Finally, through a regression analysis, the potential impact of this relationship was assessed. The results reveal that specific emotion-regulation strategies, except for adaptive ones, significantly influence and modify the decision-making styles of PSP officials. Dysfunctional and maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies lead to less adaptive decision-making styles, while functional strategies promote more adaptive styles. These findings have theoretical and practical implications, offering valuable insights for targeted training programs and interventions in the law-enforcement sector, benefiting the police personnel, the communities they serve, and public perceptions about police.

Who Would Taste It? Exploring Decision-Making Styles and Intention to Eat Insect-Based Food among Italian University Students

Background: Although insect-based foods (IBFs) have been recently proposed as a way to face climate crisis and starvation, they encounter aversion from Western countries, which express fear, disgust, and high risk. The contribution of psychology research to food choices highlights how decisions are made, not only through reasoned attitudes and goal-directed behavior, but also through more automatic associations (dual-system models). Methods: In this paper, we investigated people’s dispositions towards IBFs by combining (a) explicit attitudes (as assessed via self-report scales), (b) automatic associations (as measured via indirect measures), and (c) intention to taste, and comparing different profiles based on (d) psychological factors, including decision-making style, food neophobia, and trust in science and scientist. A pilot sample of 175 Italian university students participated in the study. Results: The analyses of the general sample highlighted rather negative attitudes. The cluster analysis identified 4 decision-making profiles: ‘the gut feeling’, ‘the suspicious’, ‘the vicarious’, and ‘the mind’. It revealed more favorable opinions in ‘the mind’ profile, characterized by a rational decision-making style and high trust in science, and very aversive reactions from ‘the suspicious’ profile, characterized by high food neophobia and low trust in science. Conclusions: The results underline the importance of psychological factors in interpreting people’s reactions to IBF and changes in dietary habits based on the decision-making process. They suggest possible strategies to promote eco-friendly diets.

Five guidelines to improve context-aware process selection: an Australian banking perspective

PurposeSelecting which processes to improve plays a critical role in the first phase of the business process management lifecycle, but it is a step with known pitfalls. Decision-makers rely on subjective criteria and their knowledge of the alternative processes put forward for selection is often inconsistent. This leads to poor quality decision-making and wastes resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine the proposition that decision-makers armed with context-enriched criteria make more logical, better-quality decisions. The context in question is qualitative, sensitive to decision-making bias and politically charged.Design/methodology/approachWe applied a design-science approach, engaging 70 industry decision-makers through a combination of research methods to assess how different contextual configurations, in a hypothetical scenario adapted from the Australian banking industry, influenced and ultimately improved the quality of the process selection step.FindingsThe study highlights the impact of framing effects on context, and the need to adapt framing to decision-maker behavior and provides five guidelines to improve process selection effectiveness.Originality/valueProcess selection research to date has largely focused on quantitative evaluation techniques, with little attention paid to the role of context and the behavioral interplay of decision-making styles in practice.

The role of SME’s owner-manager decision-making styles in marketing strategies and organizational performance

PurposeAlthough studies have analyzed individual factors and their impact on marketing strategies and organizational performance, little is known about the owner-manager’s decision-making style. In the marketing literature of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), little attention has been paid to the decision-maker. This study aims to gauge the impact of the manager's decision-making styles (rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous) on marketing strategy creativity, on its implementation effectiveness and, consequently, on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a quantitative and descriptive approach. The data collection technique was through a survey with structured questionnaires in an online format. The data were collected from Brazilian micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the commerce and service sectors. The nonprobabilistic sampling included 206 valid responses. The data were analyzed using the technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) through the partial least squares method (PLS).FindingsAmong the main results, it was observed that rational, dependent and avoidant styles influence the creativity and implementation effectiveness of marketing strategies, and that these two factors positively impact organizational performance. In addition, it was found that part of the effect of rational, dependent and avoidant styles on performance occurs through the creativity and implementation effectiveness of the marketing strategy. However, the effect of the intuitive style and spontaneous style was not significant.Practical implicationsFor owner-managers, the main implication is that they need to be rational, carefully analyzing the information and options available, ask for support when necessary for their team or partners and avoid procrastinating decisions. This can aid the development of more creative and effective implementations of their marketing strategies, which consequently, may contribute to better performance results.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this study was to add a new approach (decision-making styles) to the SME marketing literature. Moreover, this study integrates organizational (focused on marketing) and behavioral (focused on the manager's decision-making style) perspectives as factors that improve organizational performance.

The Effectiveness of Emotion-Oriented Couple Therapy Training on Decision-Making Styles and Relationship Derangement of Facing Divorce Women

The Effectiveness of Emotion-Oriented Couple Therapy Training on Decision-Making Styles and Relationship Derangement of Facing Divorce Women

The Digital Siren’s Call: Accepting Unethical AI Advice

The growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) in business raises concerns about how humans perceive AI-generated advice, especially in ethical contexts. This study, using a preregistered experiment, explores whether people are more likely to accept unethical business advice from AI compared to human advisors, and examines how individual differences in moral reasoning, decision-making style, and trust in AI influence this acceptance. Participants were presented with business decisions based on advice from either an AI or a human, with advice varying in ethicality. Results showed participants were more likely to accept unethical advice from AI than from human advisors. Lower moral reasoning, an intuitive decision-making style, and higher trust in AI were associated with greater acceptance of unethical AI advice. These findings emphasize the risks of overreliance on AI in decision-making and the importance of promoting ethical AI use in business.

A parametric similarity measure for neutrosophic set and its applications in energy production

As a useful tool for managing ambiguous and inconsistent data, the Single Value Neutrosophic Set (SVNSs) is an extension of both Fuzzy Sets (FSs) and Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFSs). In the field of information theory, metrics like similarity, entropy, and distance are important. Although a number of entropy measures for SVNSs have been put forth and used in real-world situations, both academic research and real-world applications have pointed out certain drawbacks. Additionally, the Similarity Measures (SMs) is a useful instrument for determining how similar any two fuzzy values are to one another. The distance between the values allows the current SMs to evaluate the similarity. However, due to a few characteristics and intricate value operations, there are irrational and nonsensical cases. To deal with these preposterous cases, this paper proposed a parametric similarity measure in view of three parameters m1,m2,m3 in which decision makers can obtain the appropriate SMs by changing parameters with different decision styles. Furthermore, we analyze some existing SMs from a mathematical perspective and demonstrate the success of the proposed SMs using mathematical models. Ultimately, we apply the suggested SMs to resolve the Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) problems. We learn from the correlation and analysis that the suggested SM outperforms certain other SMs that are based on the SVNSs.

Distractor effects in decision making are related to the individual’s style of integrating choice attributes

Humans make irrational decisions in the presence of irrelevant distractor options. There is little consensus on whether decision making is facilitated or impaired by the presence of a highly rewarding distractor, or whether the distractor effect operates at the level of options’ component attributes rather than at the level of their overall value. To reconcile different claims, we argue that it is important to consider the diversity of people’s styles of decision making and whether choice attributes are combined in an additive or multiplicative way. Employing a multi-laboratory dataset investigating the same experimental paradigm, we demonstrated that people used a mix of both approaches and the extent to which approach was used varied across individuals. Critically, we identified that this variability was correlated with the distractor effect during decision making. Individuals who tended to use a multiplicative approach to compute value, showed a positive distractor effect. In contrast, a negative distractor effect (divisive normalisation) was prominent in individuals tending towards an additive approach. Findings suggest that the distractor effect is related to how value is constructed, which in turn may be influenced by task and subject specificities. This concurs with recent behavioural and neuroscience findings that multiple distractor effects co-exist.

Security awareness, decision style, knowledge, and phishing email detection: Moderated mediation analyses

This study examines whether the negative relationship between email information security awareness and phishing email susceptibility is mediated by less intuitive decision-making when assessing emails, and whether this relationship is moderated by phishing email knowledge. Participants (N = 291) completed an online email sorting task, a measure of email use information security awareness, a measure of preference for intuitive decision-making with emails, and a measure of phishing email knowledge. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that information security awareness predicted positive behavioural intentions directly and indirectly through lower preference for intuitive decision-making, and these relationships were stronger when phishing email knowledge was lower. Further, both the direct and indirect relationships between information security awareness and sensitivity through intuitive decision styles were moderated by phishing email knowledge, with information security awareness positively predicting ability to discriminate phishing from genuine emails when phishing knowledge was average or high but not low. These findings suggest that in the absence of phishing knowledge, information security awareness and less intuitive decision styles reduce susceptibility to phishing attacks through increased caution. Further, the findings provide strong support for the proposition that some level of phishing knowledge is required before email security behaviours and decision-making processes aid in the detection of phishing emails. From an applied perspective, the outcomes suggest that focusing on a combination of awareness, knowledge, and decision-making processes could increase the effectiveness of anti-phishing and cybersecurity training programs.