Decision Style Inventory Research Articles

Circadian preference and decision-making styles

The present study aimed to explore for the first time the relationship between circadian preference and different decision-making styles. In total, 501 young adults (330 females), with a mean age of 21.07 ± 1.99 years, took part in the study. The participants completed the reduced version of the morningness–eveningness questionnaire (rMEQ) and the general decision-making style inventory (GDMS). The rMEQ enabled to assess the circadian preference, with lower rMEQ scores pointing toward eveningness preference. The GDMS measured five decision-making styles: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous. Higher scores on each GDMS decision-making style reflect a higher prevalence of the corresponding style. A set of multiple regression analyses was performed with rMEQ score, gender and age as predictors together with each GDMS decision-making style as dependent variable. rMEQ score proved to be the only significant (negative) predictor of avoidant and spontaneous decision-making styles, i.e. lower rMEQ score (tendency toward eveningness) significantly predicted higher score at these decision-making styles. The present results suggest that eveningness preference is significantly related to avoidant and spontaneous decision-making styles in young adults. Such results will be discussed with reference to the effects of decision-making styles on decision-making in different types of workers and mental health.

Decision-Making Styles of Russian School Principals

This work discusses the results of a pilot project performed in 2013–14 within the framework of the Asian Leadership Project international comparative study, which continues research of school leadership in Europe and America since years 2006–2008. Alongside with Russia, the pilot project also included Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. After analyzing statistical reports on the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as on Moscow and Krasnoyarsk Krai in particular, we created a profile of an average school principal and identified their specific features across regions (age, sex, years of experience, competencies, etc.). Upon investigation of decision-making styles (A. Rowe's Decision Style Inventory) applied by school principals in Moscow and Krasnoiarsk and by award winners in the School Principal professional competition, we found that contextual factors and personal and professional attitudes of school principals have considerable effects on school leadership style. This paper also discusses changes in school leadership styles over recent decades, managerial methods used by Russian school principals, and similarities and differences between school leadership practices in Russia and Canada. The report describes the concept and design of a future large-scale study of these issues.

Adapting Scott and Bruce's General Decision-Making Style Inventory to Patient Decision Making in Provider Choice.

Research testing the concept of decision-making styles in specific contexts such as health care-related choices is missing. Therefore, we examine the contextuality of Scott and Bruce's (1995) General Decision-Making Style Inventory with respect to patient choice situations. Scott and Bruce's scale was adapted for use as a patient decision-making style inventory. In total, 388 German patients who underwent elective joint surgery responded to a questionnaire about their provider choice. Confirmatory factor analyses within 2 independent samples assessed factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the scale. The final 4-dimensional, 13-item patient decision-making style inventory showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Data analyses supported reliability and construct validity. Besides the intuitive, dependent, and avoidant style, a new subdimension, called "comparative" decision-making style, emerged that originated from the rational dimension of the general model. This research provides evidence for the contextuality of decision-making style to specific choice situations. Using a limited set of indicators, this report proposes the patient decision-making style inventory as valid and feasible tool to assess patients' decision propensities.

Does Conceptual Decision-Making Style Make School Principal an Efficient Reforms Promoter

The paper attempts to contribute to the ongoing debate on the impact of executive’s behavioral pattern on the speed and effectiveness of the organizational transformation. Authors consider the large-scale reform of school education system launched in the Russian Federation and look at the principals’ decision-making behavioral patterns. The use of A. Rowe’s Decision Style Inventory (DSI) gives the opportunity to get fast results for a large and representative set of principles and compare these to that of similar study undertaken earlier in Canada. In spite of the fact that the two nations exhibit substantially different cultural characteristics some important conclusions about the principals’ behavior and its potential influence do coincide, which makes authors think that these have to do not with the national culture, but rather with some generic features of the school as an organization. Practical implication of the research is seen in providing assessment of the cadre of principals as agents of change at the current stage of reforms of the Russian educational system.

Exploratory structural equation modeling of the general decision-making style inventory

El General Decision-Making Style Inventory ha sido validado con muestras de varios países, sin reportes sobre su validez en países latinoamericanos. En este estudio evaluamos la estructura subyacente al GDMSI en una muestra de habitantes de Argentina y comparamos un modelo clásico de análisis factorial confirmatorio (CFA) con un modelo más flexible que combina modelos exploratorios y confirmatorios, el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales exploratorio (ESEM). En general, los resultados muestran la validez de constructo del GDMSI y confirman la potencialidad y superioridad de los procedimientos ESEM para evaluar las relaciones entre los ítems y las dimensiones subyacentes, comparado con modelos más restrictivos.

Vocational Identity Status among Turkish Youth: Relationships between Perfectionisms and Decision Making Style

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between vocational identity status, perfectionism and decision making style in a sample of 317 Turkish university students and university graduates. The Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA; Porfeli et al., 2011), the General Decision Making Style Inventory (GDMS; Scott and Bruce, 1995), the Almost Perfect Scale- Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) were used for data collection. As hypothesized, the regression analyses revealed that, high standards and order were the positive predictors of career exploration and commitment while discrepancy was the negative predictor of commitment. High standards and order were found to be the negative predictor of reconsideration while discrepancy was the positive predictor of reconsideration. The regression analyses revealed that dependent and rational decision making styles were the positive predictors of career exploration and rational and intuitive styles were the positive predictors of commitment. The avoidant style was the positive predictor of reconsideration while intuitive style was the negative predictor of reconsideration.

Decision-Making Styles of Russian School Principals

In this article, we discuss the results of a pilot project implemented in 2013–2014 within the frame of the Asia Leadership Project international comparative study, which continues research of school leadership in Europe and America started in 2006–2008. Apart from Russia, the pilot project also involved Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Having analyzed statistical reports on the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as on Moscow and Krasnoyarsk Krai in particular, we created a picture of an average school principal and identified their specific features across the regions (age, gender, years of experience, competencies, etc). Upon investigation of decision-making styles (A. Rowe’s Decision Style Inventory) used by school principals in Moscow and Krasnoyarsk and by award winners in the School Principal professional competition, we found out that contextual factors, personal and professional attitudes of a school principal have considerable effects on the school leadership style. The paper also gives an insight into the changes in school leadership styles in the recent decades, managerial methods used by Russian school principals, similarities and differences between school leadership practices in Russia and Canada. As it turned out, the directive decision-making style prevails in practices of both Moscow and Krasnoyarsk Krai school principals. The same style, which discourages efficient interaction between school administrators and teachers, is largely adopted by Canadian school principals even after education reforms implemented in the country. Meaningfully different results were demonstrated by the sample consisting of school principals who had won in the professional competition: about 60 % among them use the conceptual school leadership style on a regular basis. Finally, we describe the conception and design of a large-scale study of the issues in question which is scheduled for future.

Managerial Decision Styles of Deans in Institutions of Higher Learning

Abstract Numerous studies in the area of Management and Leadership indicate that one's decision making style (DMS) is reflective of one's leadership style. Using the Decision Making Styles Inventory (DMSI) developed by Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) , this paper attempts to explore and report the managerial DMS among 54 deans from four randomly selected Malaysian public universities. The scores derived from DMS inventory were categorized into four decision styles namely: Directive, Behavioural, Analytical and Conceptual. Results revealed that a majority of deans adopted at least one very dominant or dominant DMS intensity level for Behavioural DMS along with one or two back-up decision styles. These findings indicate that most of the deans possessed more than one style category implying that they have considerable flexibility in their managerial DMS. These findings have implications for leadership training.

The Relationship between Decision Making Styles and Leadership Styles among Public School Principals

The present study examined the relationships between leadership styles and decision-making styles among public schools principals. A total of 108 principals returned questionnaires from Russaifa Education District in Jordan. The Decision Style Inventory and the Administrative Styles Questionnaire were used in this study.

Structural equation models of management and decision‐making styles with job satisfaction of academic staff in Malaysian research university

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effect of management and decision‐making styles on the job satisfaction of academic staff in a Malaysian Research University.Design/methodology/approach – The sample consisted of 218 respondents. The instruments used in the study were the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Decision Style Inventory. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to determine the influence of decision‐making style and management style on the job satisfaction.Findings – The findings showed that the research university had adopted an analytical decision‐making style. The hygiene factors were the predictors of job satisfaction as perceived by the academic staff at the research university in Malaysia.Research limitations/implications – This research selected a top Malaysian research university and small samples were selected from the whole population under consideration, thus, the findings can be generalized as similar to other research universities. In addition, t...

Individual Differences in Rater Decision-Making Style: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study

Researchers of high-stakes, subjectively scored writing assessments have done much work to better understand the process that raters go through in applying a rating scale to a language performance to arrive at a score. However, there is still unexplained, systematic variability in rater scoring that resists rater training (see Hoyt & Kerns, 1999; McNamara, 1996; Weigle, 2002; Weir, 2005). The consideration of individual differences in rater cognition may explain some of this rater variability. This mixed-method exploratory case study (Yin, 2009) examined rater decision making in a high-stakes writing assessment for preservice teachers in Quebec, Canada, focussing on individual differences in decision-making style, or “stylistic differences in cognitive style that could affect decision-making” (Thunholm, 2004, p. 932). The General Decision Making Style Inventory questionnaire (Scott & Bruce, 1995) was administered to six raters of a high-stakes writing exam in Quebec, and information on the following rater behaviours was also collected for their potential for providing additional information on individual decision-making style (DMS): (a) the frequency at which a rater decides to defer his or her score, (b) the underuse of failing score levels, and (c) the comments provided by raters during the exam rating about their decisions (collected through “write-aloud” protocols; Gigerenzer & Hoffrage, 1995). The relative merits of each of these sources of data are discussed in terms of their potential for tapping into the construct of rater DMS. Although score effects of DMS have yet to be established, it is concluded that despite the exploratory nature of this study, there is potential for the consideration of individual sociocognitive differences in accounting for some rater variability in scoring.

Decision Styles and Rationality

This study investigates the relationship between the five decision-making styles evaluated by the General Decision-Making Style Inventory, indecisiveness, and rationality in decision making. Using a sample of 102 middle-level managers, the results show that the rational style positively predicts rationality in decision making and negatively predicts indecisiveness, whereas the avoidant style positively predicts indecisiveness.

Career decision-making profiles vs. styles: Convergent and incremental validity

The present research investigated the convergent and incremental validity of the multidimensional model and questionnaire – the Career Decision-Making Profiles (CDMP, Gati, Landman, Davidovitch, Peretz-Asulin, & Gadassi, 2010) – by comparing it to two prevalent decision-making style models. Study 1 compared the CDMP to the Vocational Decision Style Indicator (VDSI; Walsh, 1986) using a sample of 423 young adults. Study 2 compared the CDMP to the General Decision-Making Style inventory (GDMS; Scott & Bruce, 1995; based on Harren, 1979) using a sample of 427 individuals. The results of Studies 1 and 2 supported the convergent validity of the CDMP. Moreover, the results supported the advantage of the CDMP over the VDSI in predicting individuals' stages in the career decision-making process.

Decision-making difficulties experienced by adults with autism spectrum conditions

Autobiographical and clinical accounts, as well as a limited neuropsychological research literature, suggest that, in some situations, men and women with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) may have difficulty making decisions. Little is known, however, about how people with ASCs experience decision-making or how they might best be supported to make decisions for themselves. In this study, we compared the decision-making experiences of adults with and without ASCs (n=38 and n=40, respectively) using a novel questionnaire and the General Decision Making Style inventory (GDMS, Scott & Bruce, 1995). The participants with ASCs reported experiencing several problems in decision-making more frequently than the comparison group, and were more likely to report avoidance of decision-making, as measured using the GDMS. The findings highlight areas of potential future research and inform suggestions for supporting adults with ASCs during decision-making.

Lecturers’ Satisfaction towards University Management & Decision-making Styles in some Malaysian Public Universities

This paper discusses the effect of management and decision-making styles on job satisfaction of academic staff in Malaysian public universities. The sample consisted of 419 respondents. The instruments used in the study were the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Decision Style Inventory. Structural Equation Modelling was used to determine the effect of management and decision-making styles on lecturers’ job satisfaction. The findings showed that universities had adopted the behavioral decision-making style. Communication was the dominant style of management. Direct-effect of decision-making styles on lecturers’ job satisfaction was found. Hygiene factors were the predictors for job satisfaction as perceived by the lecturers at universities.

Understanding designer clothing purchases over the internet

PurposeStudies for online designer clothing purchases and also online purchases of numerous types of designer clothing are so far unknown. This study seeks to analyze variables influencing intentions to purchase designer clothing online and also online purchases of different types of designer clothing over three months.Design/methodology/approachCross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses were performed with linear and logistic regression (n=527). The theoretical framework was the Theory of Planned Behavior. Independent variables also included the Boredom Proneness Scale, and the Consumer Decision Making Styles Inventory. Clothing types were intimate apparel, underwear, swimwear, pants, jeans, skirts/dresses, T‐shirts, shoes, sneakers, sweaters, jackets/coats, socks, hosiery, and hats.FindingsThe cross‐sectional analysis for intentions substantiated the Theory of Planned Behavior. Boredom was associated with intentions and some of the specific types purchased. In the longitudinal analysis, increased internet information search was associated with purchases for all the specific clothing types. The most common purchases were T‐shirts, shoes, and skirts/dresses.Research limitations/implicationsParticipants were allowed to interpret what was perceived as designer clothing.Practical implicationsAs information search is associated with purchases of many types of designer clothing, companies should focus on increasing the likelihood of their web pages being searched. Useful strategies can include purchase of sponsored links and efforts to improve page rank.Originality/valueThis is the first study to analyze predictors for purchasing numerous specific types of designer clothing online. Also, it is believed to be the first longitudinal study to use the Theory of Planned Behavior as the framework to analyze online apparel purchases.

Military leaders and followers – do they have different decision styles?

There are five different, although not mutually exclusive, styles exhibited by military officers when making decisions: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous (Scott & Bruce, 1995). The purpose was to investigate if elected leaders of military planning teams had a different configuration of decision-making styles than their team members. Participants were 98 army captains organized in 16 brigade-level planning teams. The results indicate that team leaders tended to be more spontaneous and less rational, dependent and avoidant in their style configuration than their team members. One possible explanation is that the style configuration exhibited by many of the elected leaders comes through to others as forcefulness and decisiveness and that such a profile is in line with a general leadership culture. The results also provide support for the General Decision-Making Style inventory as a measurement of decision styles, because they suggest that the self-reports coincide with displayed, observable behavior.

Psychometric Properties of Decision-Making Style Inventory for Guidance and Counselling Students in Turkey

The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of “Decision Making Style Inventory (DMS)” for Turkish guidance and counselling students as a psychological means of survey and determine the psychometric features of this scale. The research conducted based on survey model was administered to 229 students at Ankara University. Exploratory factor analysis was applied in order to determine the factor structure of DMS, and confirmatory factor analysis was applied in order to show whether the factor structure is a valid model. In order to determine the reliability of DMS, Cronbach-Alpha consistency coefficients of the factors ranging from 0.75 to 0.87; testretest reliability is determined as 0.73. As a result, it can be said that the five factor structure of DMS is a valid model for Turkish guidance and counselling students and it can make reliable measurements. Keywords: Decision making, adaptation, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, students, TurkeyNigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 13 (1) 2008: pp. 1-12

Decision‐making styles and physiological correlates of negative stress: Is there a relation?

There are 5 independent, although not mutually exclusive, styles used by military officers when making decisions: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous (Scott & Bruce, 1995). The rational and intuitive styles are part of the cognitive style concept, whereas the conceptual foundation of the remaining 3 styles is less clear. The dependent and the avoidant styles were expected to be accompanied by increased levels of negative stress, while this was not expected of the remaining 3 styles. This hypothesis was put to test. Twenty-three male Swedish Army majors were asked to make decisions in 2 different military situations. Their decision styles were measured by the General Decision Making Style inventory (GDMS; Scott & Bruce, 1995). Saliva cortisol release indicated negative stress and was measured on 4 occasions: twice before, after the first decision, and after the second decision. The avoidant style was related to negative stress, as predicted. There was, however, no difference between the base-line measurements and the after-decision measurements, suggesting that officers with an avoidant decision style may, in general, have higher levels of cortisol secretion (i.e., being more of the worrying kind).

A contribution to the Italian validation of the General Decision-making Style Inventory

The main purposes of the present study were to evaluate: the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the General Decision-Making Style Inventory (GDMS); the relationship among decision-making styles, as proposed by GDMS, and thinking styles, assessed by Style of Learning and Thinking (SOLAT). The psychometric properties of GDMS were evaluated on a sample of 422 students, while 230 students also completed the Italian version of the SOLAT. The reliability of the GDMS scales (rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous) appeared to be satisfactory with good internal consistency. The pattern of inter-correlation between the different styles was in line with the results reported by the literature. Confirmatory and Exploratory factor analyses showed that the hypothesized 5-factor model provided an acceptable fit for the data. Furthermore, the patterns of relationship between the decision-making styles and the SOLAT scales provide concurrent validity of the GDMS.