Individual Decision-making Process Research Articles

The Finishing Space Value for Shooting Decision-Making in High-Performance Football

Football players’ decision-making behaviours near the scoring target (finishing situations) emerge from the evolving spatiotemporal information directly perceived in the game’s landscape. In finishing situations, the ball carrier’s decision-making about shooting or passing is not an individual decision-making process, but a collective decision that is guided by players’ perceptions of match affordances. To sustain this idea, we collected spatiotemporal information and built a model to quantify the “Finishing Space Value” (FSV) that results from players’ perceived affordances about two main questions: (a) is the opponent’s target successfully reachable from a given pitch location?; and (b) from each given pitch location, the opposition context will allow enough space to shoot (low adversaries’ interference)? The FSV was calculated with positional data from high-performance football matches, combining information extracted from Voronoi diagrams (VD) with distances and angles to the goal line. FSV was tested using as a reference the opinion of a “panel of expert” (PE), composed by football coaches, about a questionnaire presenting 50 finishing situations. Results showed a strong association between the subjective perception scale used by the PE to assess how probable a shot made by the ball carrier could result in a goal and FSV calculated for that same situation (R2=0.6706). Moreover, we demonstrate the accuracy of the FSV quantification model in predicting coaches’ opinions about what should be the “best option” to finish the play. Overall, results indicated that the FSV is a promising model to capture the affordances of the shooting circumstances for the ball carrier’s decision-making in high-performance football. FSV might be useful for more precise match analysis and informing coaches in the design of representative practice tasks.

How organisational factors and clinical decision support system affect nurses’ knowledge for decisions in triage

ABSTRACT This paper delves into heuristic decision-making by nurses during the triage process, aiming to elucidate how organisational factors influence nurses’ decision-making regarding the assignment of priority codes to patients, and to assess the effectiveness of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) in this context. Drawing on an experimental dataset of 25 triage cases evaluated by 35 nurses via interviews, the study was conducted in two Spanish Emergency Departments using CDSS. Findings indicate that organisational factors predominantly influence decisions in cases with complete and coherent information. However, in cases where information is incoherent or missing, individual nurse characteristics guide decision-making. Furthermore, it suggests that CDSS should be tailored to nurses’ clinical reasoning to serve as effective support for individual decision-making processes.

Exemplary Self-Discipline, Leniency towards Others: Competitive Contexts Amplify the "Black Sheep Effect" in Restoring Ingroup Trust.

Intergroup interaction, a pivotal aspect of social interaction, encompasses both cooperation and competition. Group identity significantly impacts individual behaviors and decision-making processes. This influence manifests in two contrasting ways when addressing rule-breaking by interaction partners: in-group favoritism, where individuals are more lenient towards infractions committed by in-group members, and the black sheep effect, where in-group members are penalized for their rule-breaking. Although trust is crucial in intergroup interactions, the precise impact of group identity on trust restoration and the potential moderating role of intergroup interaction types remain to be elucidated. This study presents two experiments designed to explore these dynamics. In Study 1, the manipulation of group identity through a point estimation task was utilized to evaluate its impact on intergroup trust restoration via a series of repeated trust games. Study 2 aimed to explore the moderating role of intergroup interaction on intergroup trust restoration by contrasting cooperation and competition situations. The results uncovered a "black sheep effect", where participants demonstrated a greater propensity for trust restoration with out-group members than with in-group members. This effect, however, was only evident in competitive contexts. Conversely, in cooperative contexts, the individual's trust in the in-group and out-group members is effectively repaired. These findings contribute to a deeper comprehension of trust dynamics in intergroup interactions, promoting trust establishment and repair between diverse groups, thereby boosting team collaboration efficiency and mitigating conflicts.

How does the media influence Korean travelers’ intention to use hyperloop trains?

ABSTRACT Hyperloop is recognized as a pioneering and innovative mode of transportation capable of carrying passengers and goods between cities. Using an extended model of goal-directed behavior, this study focuses on examining the impact of media coverage, safety perception, and novelty seeking on the individual decision-making process to undertake Hyperloop travel mode. The research model is tested using data obtained from 406 potential travelers. Results show that media coverage can positively affect Korean travelers’ safety perception, novelty seeking, attitude, subjective norm, positive emotion, and desire to use Hyperloop trains. Results also indicate that safety perception and desire have positive effects on behavioral intention to use Hyperloop trains. Hyperloop companies can benefit from the power of media to stimulate traveler’s intention to use this new and promising mode of traveling.

Sydney’s residential relocation landscape: Machine learning and feature selection methods unpack the whys and whens

This study investigates household residential relocation timing, an aspect vital for transport and urban planning. Analyzing a high-dimensional dataset from 1,024 relocations in Sydney, Australia, the research contrasts ten machine learning survival techniques with three classical survival models. Results indicate that when classical models are paired with tree-based automated feature selectors, they align closely with machine learning outcomes. Notably, the GBM, XGBoost, and Random Forest models emerge as standout performers. The study provides a comprehensive comparison between automatic and manual feature selection, shedding light on variables influencing households’ duration of stay. While stacked ensemble modeling, which leverages predictions from various models, is used to enhance accuracy, the improvements are marginal, underscoring inherent modeling challenges, particularly the recurring issue of misclassifying specific pairs of households in the concordance index measure. A thorough feature analysis highlights homeownership as the foremost predictor, underscoring the importance of recent life events and accessibility features in relocation decisions. The research emphasizes the importance of considering the accessibility of both current and future homes in relocation models, with 20% feature significance in model outcomes. Building on these foundational insights, the study paves the way for a deeper understanding of individual decision-making processes in sustainable urban planning.

The impact of relationship stickiness and memory on the evolution of individual behavior

This study investigates the dynamics of individual behavior and decision-making processes shaped by changes in personal relationships and preferences, using the prisoner’s dilemma game as a framework. The research focuses on the effects of relationship stickiness and memory on behavior evolution and network structural changes, considering two types of initial relationship networks. The findings indicate that as the number of games increases, there is a general trend of gradual increases in the average relationship stickiness, topological changes, and network heterogeneity. Notably, networks with greater initial heterogeneity, such as scale-free networks, better facilitate individual cooperation. Contrary to previous studies, the stable density of cooperators does not consistently increase with higher temptation gains. This suggests that individuals’ adaptive strategies, which include changing neighbors, can foster cooperation even under greater temptations. Additionally, an increase in the sensitivity coefficient correlates with increases in the final cooperator density, network heterogeneity, and topological changes. As individual memory and temptation gain rise, network heterogeneity measures tend to increase, while measures of topological change generally decrease. A sharp decline in the stable density of cooperators coincides almost synchronously with a rapid increase in network heterogeneity and a decrease in topological changes. This research reveals how relationship stickiness and memory impact individual cooperation, enhancing our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving cooperative behaviors in complex networks.

An Impact of Behavioral Bias on Investment Decision Making of Individual Investors

Behavioral finance has gained increasing prominence in understanding the role of psychological factors in shaping investment decisions. This study aims to investigate the impact of various behavioral biases on the investment decision-making process of individual investors. Specifically, it examines the prevalence and influence of biases such as confirmation bias, loss aversion, herding behavior, overconfidence, and regret aversion among individual investors. The study employs a quantitative approach, collecting data through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 201 individual investors. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, chi-square tests, and reliability measures are utilized to analyze the data and assess the relationships between behavioral biases, demographic factors, investment characteristics, and investment decisions. The findings reveal that behavioral biases are prevalent among the respondents, with varying degrees of influence on their investment decisions. Significant associations are observed between certain biases and factors such as annual income, percentage of investment from savings, frequency of investments, and investment types. For instance, individuals with higher incomes exhibit slightly more loss aversion tendencies, while those investing a higher percentage of their savings tend to demonstrate greater confirmation bias. The study contributes to the understanding of behavioral finance by providing empirical evidence on the impact of various biases on individual investors' decision-making processes. It highlights the importance of recognizing and mitigating these biases to promote more informed and rational investment decisions. The findings have implications for individual investors, financial advisors, and policymakers in developing strategies to enhance investment decision-making and overall financial well-being.

The Israel-Palestine Conflict from the Perspective of Prospect Theory: “Hedging” or “Speculating”

Prospect theory, which emphasizes the non-linear relationship between risk and reward, is an important concept in the fields of psychology and behavioral economics, and focuses on the decision-making process of individuals in the face of risk and uncertainty. In the field of international relations, Prospect Theory is of great significance to the study of decision-making of international actors. This paper combines the overall framework of Prospect Theory, based on the relevant theoretical doctrines of geopolitics, and sets the risk perception and potential benefit seeking of the two parties as independent variables, and the decision-making behavior and strategic choices of the two parties as dependent variables. By analyzing the behavioral patterns of the participants in the conflict and exploring their “hedging” and “speculative” behavioral choices, we can better understand their decision-making process and perhaps provide valuable insights into their search for a peaceful solution.

A Study on Risk and Return Analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis of Public and Private Sectors Banks: A Five -Year Study (2018-2022)

Risk and returns are like two faces of the same coin, if an investor wants to gain higher returns, he must also accept the fact that this would also increase the amount of risk involved. Most of the times, individual decision process is influenced by risk and return analysis. The study is focused on analysing the performance of those nationalized banks listed in the NSE with respect to return, risk and beta for the period 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017. The term risk is a situation in which the possibility of the consequence can be predicted, but uncertainty is the situation where the possibility cannot be predicted. Risk and uncertainty are part and parcel of investment The possibility of risk is a loss for the investors. The methodology adopted includes analysis of the performance of banking sector considering Bank Nifty Index as benchmark. Risk and return of banking stocks as well as Data Envelopment analysis method is used for analysing the efficiency of banks. The entire study is based on secondary data collected from the NSE. The data collected was based on the monthly prices of the bank stocks listed in Bank Nifty. The reason for selecting monthly prices is to measure the shortterm variations in the banking stocks due to various other internal and external factors. The findings of the study revealed that if the investors are ready to take high risk for more returns, the investors are suggested to invest in stocks like Bank of India and Punjab National Bank in which risk and return are high. The investors who prefer low risk and return are suggested to invest in Axis Bank stock.

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY OF DECISION MAKING

This doctoral thesis explores the intricate relationship between organizational culture and decision-making under uncertainty, aiming to uncover how cultural norms, values, beliefs, and practicesinfluence both individual and collective decision-making processes. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative surveys with qualitative interviews and case studies across various industries to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of organizational culture on decision-making efficacy in uncertain environments.

Exploring medical students’ perceptions of individual and group-based clinical reasoning with virtual patients: a qualitative study

BackgroundVirtual Patients are computer-based simulations used to teach and evaluate patient interviews, medical diagnoses, and treatment of medical conditions. It helps develop clinical reasoning skills, especially in undergraduate medical education. This study aimed to and investigate the medical students’ perceptions of individual and group-based clinical reasoning and decision-making processes by using Virtual Patients.MethodsThe study group comprised 24 third-year medical students. Body Interact® software was utilized as a VP tool. The students’ readiness and the courses’ learning goals were considered when choosing the scenarios. Semi-structured interview forms were employed for data collection. MAXQDA 2020 qualitative analysis software was used to analyze the data. The students’ written answers were analyzed using content analysis.ResultsThe participants perceived individual applications as beneficial when making clinical decisions with Virtual Patients, but they suggested that group-based applications used with the same cases immediately following individual applications were a more appropriate decision-making method. The results indicated that students learn to make decisions through trial and error, based on software scoring priorities, or using clinical reasoning protocols.ConclusionIn group-based reasoning, the discussion-conciliation technique is utilized. The students stated that the individual decision-making was advantageous because it provided students with the freedom to make choices and the opportunity for self-evaluation. On the other hand, they stated that the group based decision-making process activated their prior knowledge, assisted in understanding misconceptions, and promoted information retention. Medical educators need to determine the most appropriate method when using Virtual Patients, which can be structured as individual and/or group applications depending on the competency sought.

Individual heat adaptation: Analyzing risk communication, warnings, heat risk perception, and protective behavior in three German cities.

Extreme heat poses severe health threats, as the increased numbers of hospitalizations and fatalities during heat waves show, though little is known about adaptive behavior toward heat. We conducted a household survey on individual perceptions of heat stress and individual heat protection in the summer and autumn of 2019. In total, 1417 people from three medium-sized German cities participated via telephone or online. Based on the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), which we adapted to heat stress, we analyzed links between risk perception, environmental and demographic factors, perceptions of stakeholders, different heat warning messages, as well as actual and intended adaptive behavior. Overall, the PADM constructs explained around 16% of the variance in protection motivation, 19% in protective response, and 23% in emotion-focused coping. Context factors (i.e., temperature, risk communication, gender, age, and homeownership) were significant predictors of the addressed outcome variables as were psychological factors (i.e., perceived personal vulnerability, response efficacy, response costs, preparedness, and perceived external responsibility). We further explored the effect of different warning messages on situational knowledge and intended behavioral adaptation in an experimental setting. Results showed that respondents felt significantly better informed after receiving a warning with action recommendations and reported more intended specific behaviors. Our research gives insights into individual protective action decision-making processes. Based on our findings, we recommend tailoring risk communication strategies and combining heat warnings with action recommendations whenever possible to increase understanding and individual adaptation.

Research methodology in finance

Purpose- Our research aims to explore the different philosophical and epistemological concepts and approaches in traditional finance and behavioral finance, based on the analysis of scientific articles. We aim to provide a comprehensive insight into the theoretical foundations that guide these two branches of finance, with particular emphasis on the epistemological and methodological nuances that distinguish them. Methodology- Our research is based on a careful analysis of the relevant scientific literature in traditional and behavioural finance. By giving specific importance to epistemological aspects, we try to discover the paradigms of thought that influence the understanding and interpretation of financial phenomena within these two fields. Similarly, our meticulous examination of this research aims to identify the preferred methodological approaches. Findings- The results of the analysis show that traditional and behavioural finance have different epistemological and methodological approaches. most traditional financiers follow a quantitative research approach based on numerical data and a purely statistical analysis. However, behaviorists have opted for methodological triangulation, which further explains the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to achieve stronger results and that one can modify or complement the other. Behaviorists recognize the importance of cognitive and emotional biases in the decision-making process of individuals, leading to more holistic models and approaches. With regard to epistemology, most research in Finance on the positivist paradigm, on objectivity and on the relationship of cause and effect. Conclusion- In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of developing research methodologies adapted to each discipline of management sciences, taking into account the specificities of each field. Moreover, the analysis of the scientific literature in traditional and behavioural finance shows that researchers must be aware of the different epistemological and methodological perspectives in order to conduct rigorous and valid research. Keywords: Epistemology, methodology, management sciences, traditional finance, behavioural finance. JEL Codes: B40, G10, G40

Greek primary school students’ moral judgments and motives about sustainable food consumption

Modern dietary habits pose large threats to the global vision for a sustainable food system transition, intensifying discussions around the urgency for educational initiatives that can promote more sustainable food consumption practices. However, research has not sufficiently studied food consumers' moral background, despite its strong influence on food choices, while relevant research on school-aged consumers is even scarcer. This study focuses on two individual ethical decision-making processes regarding food sustainability: moral judgments and moral motives. Data was selected using non-probability, opportunity sampling from 587 students attending the last two grades of primary school in the Region of Western Macedonia, Greece. Participants completed a Likert-scale questionnaire, which adopted a holistic approach towards food sustainability, incorporating the following 12 variables associated with all three domains of sustainability (environmental, societal, economic): Biodiversity, Carbon footprint, Soil, water and air conservation, (Food) loss and waste, Water footprint, Nutrition and health, Animal welfare, Workers' rights and safety, Cultural traditions, Food supply, Tax revenues and Profits, Jobs/incomes. In the moral motives scale, additional variables associated with non-moral considerations were also assessed: Sensory Appeal, Mood, Promotion, Social influence, Convenience and Familiarity. For the moral judgments scale, findings revealed low to medium scores for all the domains and among the variables associated with a sustainable food system, the lowest mean scores being recorded in those linked to the social dimension of sustainability. Regarding food consumption motives, results indicate that non-moral considerations prevail remarkably over moral ones and are linked to all three domains of sustainability. Statistical testing identified grade level, gender, place of residence and participation in environmental, health or food education school programs as factors influencing certain aspects of students’ moral thinking at a statistically significant level. Insights gained from this study can contribute to educational and other agendas aiming to promote sustainable food consumption.

Brain size mediates the choice of breeding strategy in the red-backed shrike Lanius collurio.

The brain size of vertebrates represents a trade-off between natural selection for enhanced cognitive abilities and the energetic constraints of brain tissue production. Processing information efficiently can confer benefits, but it also entails time costs. Breeding strategies, encompassing timing of breeding onset and nest-site selection, may be related to brain size. In this study, we aim to elucidate the relationship between brain size, breeding timing, nest-site choice, and breeding success in the red-backed shrike Lanius collurio. Our findings revealed that the timing of the first egg-laying date was associated with female head size, with larger-headed females tending to lay eggs later in the breeding season. Additionally, we observed that breeding success was positively correlated with increased nest concealment. However, this relationship was stronger in males with smaller heads. In turn, nest concealment was not related to head size but primarily influenced breeding onset. These results suggest that the choice of breeding strategy may be moderated by brain size, with differences between sexes. Larger-headed females may invest more time in selecting nesting sites, leading to delayed breeding onset, while larger-headed males may compensate for suboptimal nest concealment. Our study sheds light on the intricate interplay between brain size, breeding timing, nest-site preferences, and breeding success in passerine birds, underscoring the potential role of cognitive capacity in shaping individual decision-making processes.

Cooperation dynamics in public goods games with evolving cognitive bias

It has been proved that cognitive biases widely exist in various social realities and lead to unprecedented consequences by affecting individual judgment and decision-making processes in distinct ways. To further explore the influence of changeable cognitive bias, we introduce a heterogeneous population and learning process that can be influenced by cognitive bias into the threshold public goods game (TPGG). Specifically, additional parameters describing the heterogeneity and updating speed of bias are employed. The combined effects of bias and the inherent parameters in the TPGG model on the evolution of cooperation are explored. Numerical simulation results show that the heterogeneity of cognitive bias exhibits diametrically opposite effects when the threshold is relatively low and high, and the effect of incentives based on fixed reward and adjustable punishment are distorted by heterogeneous cognitive biases as well. In addition, the process of social learning forces individuals to update their beliefs toward the direction of obtaining a higher payoff. Different learning rates eventually lead to distinct levels of cooperation by changing the distribution of cognitive bias when the population reaches the evolutionary steady state. Our work extends the research framework on cognitive bias from the perspective of population heterogeneity and explores the impact of individuals' learning ability on personal bias and cooperative behavior.

The impact of digital household budgets on online purchase decision‐making processes

AbstractRecent literature found positive effects of digital household budget feedback when used over longer timespans. This current study, in turn, investigates whether digital budget feedback also influences consumer behavior in single online purchase decisions. The related research question states: Do transparent technology‐mediated household budgets influence consumers' willingness to pay and payment pain in single, individual online purchase decision processes? The underlying study used a quantitative‐, mixed‐design approach and simulated online purchases for one hedonic and one utilitarian product. Three hundred fourteen study subjects were assigned to either a control group or one of three treatment groups manipulated with specific budget statuses to examine differences in consumer reactions. Critical measures of willingness to pay and payment pain have been taken to analyze potential significant effects. Results found significant differences in consumer willingness to pay and payment pain between and within groups concerning both products. The study could, however, not confirm differences to occur between utilitarian and hedonic purchases. The findings extend existing literature by demonstrating that consumers adjust their online spending based on individual household budget feedback. Consumers that wish to align spending with their current budget status might thus rely on app‐mediated budget updates. At the same time, marketers could offer individualized pricing offers to consumers based on situational budget status information.

Study on the influence mechanism of perceived benefits on unsafe behavioral decision-making based on ERPs and EROs.

Perceived benefits are considered one of the significant factors affecting an individual's decision-making process. Our study aimed to explore the influence mechanism of perceived benefits in the decision-making process of unsafe behaviors. Our study used the "One Stimulus-Two Key Choice (S-K1/K2)" paradigm to conduct an EEG experiment. Participants (N = 18) made decisions in risky scenarios under high perceived benefits (HPB), low perceived benefits (LPB), and control conditions (CC). Time domain analysis and time-frequency analysis were applied to the recorded EEG data to extract ERPs (event-related potentials) and EROs (event-related oscillations), which include the P3 component, theta oscillations, alpha oscillations, and beta oscillations. Under the HPB condition, the theta power in the central (p = 0.016*) and occipital regions (p = 0.006**) was significantly decreased compared to the CC. Similarly, the alpha power in the frontal (p = 0.022*), central (p = 0.037*), and occipital regions (p = 0.014*) was significantly reduced compared to the CC. Under the LPB condition, theta power in the frontal (p = 0.026*), central (p = 0.028*), and occipital regions (p = 0.010*) was significantly reduced compared to the CC. Conversely, alpha power in the frontal (p = 0.009**), central (p = 0.012*), and occipital regions (p = 0.040*) was significantly increased compared to the HPB condition. The high perceived benefits may reduce individuals' internal attention and evoke individuals' positive emotions and motivation, leading individuals to underestimate risks. Consequently, they exhibited a greater inclination toward unsafe behaviors. However, the low perceived benefits may reduce individuals' memory review, resulting in a simple decision-making process, and they are more inclined to make fast decisions to avoid loss. The research results can help to provide targeted intervention measures, which are beneficial to reducing workers' unsafe behaviors.

Customer Adoption of Neobank Services from a Technology Acceptance Perspective – Evidence from Hungary

The rapid technological development of recent years has led to a transformation and digitalisation of financial services, resulting in an increasing number of neobanks. At the same time, consumer acceptance of the services offered by these branchless banks is a key success factor for their widespread adoption. The aim of our research is to understand the individual decision-making process of potential and current neobank users. This paper seeks to explore the relationships between the factors that influence customers' intention to use neobank services by extending the widely used technology acceptance model (TAM) to include trust. To answer the research questions, we conducted an online questionnaire survey in Hungary in 2022. Using structural equation modelling (SEM) on a sample of 475 respondents, we found that intention to use is directly influenced by attitude towards use, which in turn is positively influenced by trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Based on these results, we recommend that neobanks should focus on building positive attitudes towards their services by emphasising trust, reliability, ease of use and usefulness of their services.

Decision making among residents in training of obstetrics and gynecology: A qualitative exploration in Pakistani context.

Medical decision-making is critical and the decisions are made under uncertain, complex, and dynamic conditions. In this regard, practitioners' experiences and perceptions may provide a bottom-up knowledge of the issues, as well as a corresponding support system that assists them in learning to make decisions in critical situations. The current study aimed to examine these experiences in the Pakistani context. We interviewed 14 trainee residents (aged 26 to 34 years) from tertiary care hospitals. Using inductive thematic analysis, we explored a participant-centered perspective on the support system and decision-making process. Findings reveal that the major challenges to decision-making include uncertain and complex situations, hospital-related constraints, and sociocultural context. Both non-critical and critical case management are used in individual and group decision-making processes. The residents use knowledge-based, emotional, and instrumental support to make decisions. The study gave practitioners and academics a transdisciplinary platform to explore the cognitive, social, and behavioral aspects of decision-making in the healthcare industry.