Arousal enhances herding tendencies when decision making

This research examines how arousal enhances consumer tendencies to be influenced by the majority when decision making, also known as “herding.” Physiological arousal was manipulated in three controlled experiments, using discrete choice decisions as the dependent variable. The results suggest that arousal enhances tendencies to choose more popular options and that deindividuation mediates the effect of arousal on choice. This research enriches our understanding of the theoretical relationship between arousal and consumer decision making, by suggesting that arousal increases herding. The practical relevance of our findings suggests that strategies to increase herding effects, such as “popular choice” stickers and social media metrics, may be enhanced by making the experience more arousing.     

The Effect of Decision Strategy on Deciding to Defer Choice

Recent research has examined consumer decision making when the option of not choosing any of the alternatives is also provided. The findings from this research suggest that the decision to defer choice is sensitive to the uncertainty of choosing the most preferred option from the set of alternatives provided. Building on this research, the author tests whether the decision to defer choice is also influenced by task variables that influence decision uncertainty. In the first experiment, this proposition is tested for choice problems in which information on three relatively equally attractive alternatives is presented either sequentially or simultaneously. As predicted, the preference for the defer-choice option was greater when the three alternatives were presented simultaneously. A second study forced subjects into using one of four decision strategies in order to choose between two non-dominated alternatives. The preference for the no-choice option was found to be higher when the rule required explicit attribute tradeoffs and lower when it simplified choice. These results suggest that choice uncertainty is influenced by the decision strategy used to determine the preference among alternatives. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the results for marketers' communication strategies.     

组织氛围研究：概念测量、理论基础及评价展望

组织氛围是员工对组织环境的主观知觉。文章在回顾组织氛围研究起源、总结归纳组织氛围定义的基础上, 给出了组织氛围的新定义。组织氛围有个体、团队和组织三个分析水平, 分别对应着不同的测量方法。组织氛围与组织文化既存在区别又密不可分。组织氛围的形成机制及可能的影响因素常用社会信息加工、社会交互作用、吸引选择磨合、涌现和意义建构等理论来解释。未来研究应进一步加强对组织氛围概念、研究方法、影响因素等方面的深入探讨, 拓展组织氛围的跨文化及其差异研究。     

Effects of ego-depletion on choice behaviour in a multi-attribute decision task

When a choice has to be made between two options and decision-relevant information about the options is completely available, the Take-The-Best (TTB) heuristic only considers the most important information that discriminates between the options and bases its choice on it. Choices in line with TTB thus allow a decision maker to save time and effort, and they may become more likely therefore under conditions of limited self-control strength (ego-depletion). Ego-depletion was manipulated prior to making a series of choices in a multi-attribute decision task. Choices could have been in line with either TTB or more effortful compensatory decision strategies. As predicted, compared with non-depleted participants, ego-depleted participants were more likely to make TTB-consistent choices.     

Mood in foreign exchange trading: Cognitive processes and performance

This paper examines the effects of mood on the behavior of traders or decision makers in financial markets. Based on a review of the psychological theories and empirical findings which relate mood to decision making and information processing, we derive hypotheses with respect to the impact of good, neutral, and bad moods on the behavior of traders. Two experiments (N=66 and 72) were conducted on an Internet platform which simulated foreign exchange trading based on historical market data. The first experiment manipulated mood using feedback and music whereas the second one asked subjects to read mood-laden statements. It was found that traders in a good mood had an inferior trading performance (losing money) compared to those in a neutral or bad mood (making profit). This is because traders in a good mood made less accurate decisions than those in neutral or bad moods. Those in a bad mood were the most accurate in their decisions but behaved conservatively in their trading. Subjects in a good mood tended to make less accurate decisions though they spent on average at least the same time as the other subjects on information processing and decision-making. They also were over-confident taking unwarranted risks. The studies concluded with insights concerning the effects of mood on choice of trading strategies.     

The impact of phantom decoys on choices in cats

Context-dependent choice is an important aspect of decision making. The paper examines context-dependent choice in cats (Felis catus), with particular reference to the effect of local context, on the basis of hypotheses developed in the field of human decision making. Cats were initially confronted with two different feeding options. This binary choice set was later manipulated incorporating a decoy that was better than the available options but ultimately unavailable (a phantom). By means of a within-subjects manipulation of phantom location in the attribute space, the author compared the effects of close and distant phantoms on the final choices. The main finding is that close phantom decoys affected choice behavior of cats by altering the overall share of the available options, leading some animals to reject even some of the available feeding options, and by causing the animals to favor the available option that was more similar to the phantom decoy. No significant effects emerged for phantoms that were far from the alternatives in the attribute space. The strengths of this paper lie in its novel approach and high originality. No other study has used dominating decoys with animals or decoys that are unattainable. This paper provides strong links to the human decision making literature, the presentation of the predictions of a range of different choice models, and the novelty of the application to animals. The use of a phantom decoy is particularly interesting because the phantom cannot actually be chosen, and thus the binary and trinary choice sets both have the very same choices available. Overall, the effect of phantoms is real, interesting and new.     

A constructive process view of decision making: Multiple strategies in judgment and choice

A viewpoint that has recently emerged in decision research is that preferences for objects of any complexity are often constructed — not merely revealed — in generating a response to a judgement or choice task. This paper reviews a program of research that traces the constructiveness of preferences to the use of multiple strategies in decision making, contingent on task demands. It is argued that individuals often build strategies opportunistically, changing their processing on the spot depending upon the information they encounter during the course of solving the decision problem.     

Information Seeking Within Organizations

In this article, both the literature on employee feedback‐seeking behavior and the literature on information seeking by organizational newcomers are reviewed. This review highlights the various motives that affect the decision of whether or not to seek information, shows how the strength of those motives is affected by both characteristics of the individual and characteristics of the organizational context, and reviews evidence that information seeking has beneficial outcomes. The author then offers an integrated model of antecedents, dynamics, forms, and outcomes of employee information seeking and concludes with suggestions for how future research can extend current understanding of employee information seeking.     

Children's decision strategies and their adaptation to task characteristics

Recent research has established decision making as an important type of strategic problem solving. From this perspective, the present paper examines strategic decision behavior in children and, in particular, the ability to adapt decision strategies to task characteristics. Twelve-year-olds' strategies were identified through analyses of information search patterns with different-sized matrices of information. Using a similar procedure, Payne (1976, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 366–387) found that adults shifted to more efficient (but less “optimal”) strategies as task complexity increased. The present study indicates that, by 12 years of age, children understand many of the basic concepts of strategic decision making, such as compensation and elimination, and, like adults, they modify their strategies appropriately in response to complexity. However, their behavior differs from that reported for adults in that the distinctions among specific decision strategies are not clear cut, and there is frequent use of less demanding, cost-cutting strategies even with smaller decision tasks. Memory capacity and topic interest also affect decision strategy. The results support the feasibility of further developmental study of decision strategies. Analytical techniques developed here for use with children may profitably be applied in studies with adults as well.     

Decision making under uncertainty: a comparison of simple scalability, fixed-sample, and sequential-sampling models

The purpose of this article is to investigate the learning and memory processes involved in decision making under uncertainty. In two different experiments, subjects were given a choice between a certain alternative that produced a single known payoff and an uncertain alternative that produced a normal distribution of payoffs. Initially this distribution was unknown, and in the first experiment it was learned through feedback from past decisions, whereas in the second experiment it was learned by observing sample outcomes. In the first experiment, a response deadline was used to limit the amount of time available for making a decision. In the second experiment, an observation cost was used to limit the number of samples that could be purchased. The mean and variance of the uncertain alternative and the value of the certain alternative were factorially manipulated to study their joint effects on choice probability, choice response time (Experiment 1), and number of observations purchased (Experiment 2). Algebraic-deterministic theories developed for decision making with simple gambles fail to explain the present results. Two new models are developed and tested--fixed- and sequential-sampling models--that attempt to describe the learning and memory processes involved in decision making under uncertainty.     

组织公正氛围的理论机制、研究视角及研究框架

组织公正是员工对工作场所公正环境的心理感知, 研究层面有个体与群体之分。以往研究多集中在个体层面, 以致研究结果缺乏对群体现象的有效解释。进入新世纪学者们开始关注群体层面的公正氛围研究, 并在理论和实证方面取得了较大突破。通过回顾相关研究可以发现：(1)在理论机制上, 公正氛围的形成可以通过社会信息加工理论、吸引-选择-磨合模型、公正传染概念和公正启发理论来解释; (2)在研究视角上, 主要存在维度视角、整体视角、感知来源视角、氛围属性视角和第三方视角; (3)在研究主题上, 主要涉及领导、团队和组织三方面对公正氛围的影响, 以及公正氛围对个体、团队和组织三个层面的影响效果。未来研究可着重从多种领导行为对不同公正氛围影响的比较、其他领导因素对公正氛围的影响、不同公正氛围对结果变量影响的比较、新视角公正氛围测量方法的尝试, 以及文化因素对公正氛围的影响研究等方面入手。     

西方学者对组织伦理气氛结构的研究

组织伦理气氛(organizational ethic climate)是组织成员对于什么是符合伦理的行为,如何解决伦理困境或问题的共同体验和认知.通过文献研究,该文系统讨论和分析了组织伦理气氛的理论结构类型和实证结构研究等方面的内容,并对西方组织伦理气氛结构研究现状进行了反思,提出一些启示.     

The relationship between indecisiveness and eye movement patterns in a decision making informational search task

Indecisiveness is a trait‐related general tendency to experience decision difficulties across a variety of situations, leading to decision delay, worry, and regret. Indecisiveness is proposed (Rassin, 2007) to be associated with an increase in desire for information acquisition and reliance on compensatory strategies—as evidenced by alternative‐based information search—during decision making. However existing studies provide conflicting findings. We conducted an information board study of indecisiveness, using eye tracking methodology, to test the hypotheses that the relationship between indecisiveness and choice strategy depends on being in the early stage of the decision making process, and that it depends on being in the presence of an opportunity to delay choice. We found strong evidence for the first hypothesis in that indecisive individuals changed shift behavior from the first to the second half of the task, consistent with a move from greater to lesser compensatory processing, while the shift behavior of decisive individuals suggested lesser compensatory processing over the whole task. Indecisiveness was also related to time spent viewing attributes of the selected course, and to time spent looking away from decision information. These findings resolve past discrepancies, suggest an interesting account of how the decision process unfolds for indecisive versus decisive individuals, and contribute to a better understanding of this tendency. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Influence of Decision Aids on Choice Strategies: An Experimental Analysis of the Role of Cognitive Effort

This paper examines the role of computer-based decision aids in reducing cognitive effort and therefore influencing strategy selection. It extends and complements the works reported in the behavioral decision theory literature on the role of effort and accuracy in choice tasks. The central proposition of this paper is that specific features can be incorporated within a set of decision aids that will alter the effort required to implement a particular choice strategy relative to other strategies, and that this will influence strategy selection by the decision maker. In a laboratory experiment, using a repeated measures design, 48 subjects performed a preferential choice task using different decision aids. Subjects were given different levels of support to reduce the cognitive effort associated with different preferential choice strategies. In particular, the decision aids provided varying levels of support for the processing associated with either elimination by aspects or additive difference strategies. The study examined how information processing strategies were influenced by the decision aids. The results show that decision aids which reduce the effort associated with the elimination by aspects strategy induce behaviors associated with elimination by aspects. More importantly, there was an interaction effect caused by the distinct behavior of the group which was provided support for additive difference but not for elimination by aspects. This group processed the information about available choices in a way that is consistent with an additive difference strategy. These findings indicate that a decision aid can induce additive processing by altering the relative effort requirements of different choice strategies.     

Managerial competency modelling and the development of organizational psychology: A Chinese approach

In recent years, China has undergone rapid economic reform and dynamic organizational changes. Several major developments have given special momentum to those changes: China entering the WTO, opening the western regions of China, building up an information network, transforming new management systems nationwide, and encouraging innovations and entrepreneurship. These developments call for more comprehensive and adaptive competencies and new approaches to organizational psychology in China. This provides a national and cultural context of personnel assessment, selection, and development of organizational psychology. Organizational psychology is one of the most active fields for research and application in psychology in China. Three aspects of recent trends are described under a framework of managerial competency modelling. (1) Leadership competence assessment for personnel selection and development has become one of the key aspects of human resources (HR) management in China. Based upon the results from the structured interview and strategic hierarchical job analysis, a model of leadership competency with four dimensions of leadership characteristics and the managerial performance was proposed. The four dimensions are: psychological traits; leadership predispositions; managerial skills; and professional knowledge. (2) HR competency for person‐job‐organization fit. This includes competencies for compensation and motivational strategies, organizational commitment and career management competence, team competence, and group decision‐making skills. (3) Organizational competency for culture and change. This includes an integrative approach to link values with culture, and cross‐cultural leadership skills. On the basis of the recent practice and research developments, a Chinese approach to organizational psychology with important characteristics is summarized: active theoretical development and conceptualization; continuous methodological improvement; close link with HR and management practices; and systematic cross‐cultural socioeconomic perspective. This becomes a key framework for understanding organizational psychology. New directions for research and application in China are highlighted.     

Organizational Culture and Climate and Mental Health Provider Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice

Mental health provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) are associated with organizational context and provider individual differences. Organizational culture and climate are contextual factors that can affect staff acceptance of innovation. This study examined the association of organizational culture and climate with attitudes toward adopting EBP. Participants were 301 public sector mental health service providers from 49 programs providing mental health services for youths and families. Correlation analyses and multilevel hierarchical regressions, controlling for effects of provider characteristics, showed that constructive culture was associated with more positive attitudes toward adoption of EBP and poor organizational climates with perceived divergence of usual practice and EBP. Behavioral health organizations may benefit from consideration of how culture and climate affect staff attitudes toward change in practice.     

Reappraisal and expected value modulate risk taking

Decision making is informed by appraisals of appetitive cues and their associated opportunities for rewards. Such appraisals can be modulated by cognitive regulation strategies in order to promote goal-directed choices. Little is known about how cognitive regulation strategies, especially reappraisal, alter risk taking during decision making. To characterise the effect of reappraisal on risk taking, we systematically varied both the goal of regulation and the value of the decision options. Participants engaged in two reappraisal strategies with opposite goals, to increase (“emphasise”) or decrease (“de-emphasise”) the importance of an upcoming decision, during the presentation of cues signalling monetary decisions. The expected value of taking a risk was systematically varied across decisions such that a risky choice could be beneficial or disadvantageous. Reappraisal strategies increased or decreased risk taking in accordance both with regulation goals and expected value information. These results suggest that reappraisal can be used to flexibly alter behaviour associated with appetitive cues while maintaining value information.     

Organizational Safety Climate and Supervisory Layoff Decisions: Preferences Versus Predictions

The current research investigated the extent to which supervisors take safety vs. productivity into account when making layoff recommendations under conditions of differing organizational emphasis on safety vs. production. A laboratory experiment with 57 participants acting as supervisors manipulated the organizational climate to emphasize safety vs. production and the safety performance and productivity of 4 subordinates. Results indicate that layoff recommendations were influenced by the stated organizational climate. However, regardless of the stated organizational priorities, participants predicted that upper management's final layoff decisions would result in safe workers being laid off to a greater extent than productive workers. Implications of these results are discussed in light of organizational efforts to improve their safety climate and employee safety performance.     

Team identification more than organizational identification predicts counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior and mediates influences of communication climate and perceived external prestige

Organizational identification has been linked to both positive behavior and negative behavior at work. Based on theory and research that suggest that for many organizational behaviors, team identification may be a more important influence than organizational identification, we advance a research model proposing that team identification, more than organizational identification, predicts counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior and is the more important mediator of the influence of communication climate (CC) and perceived external prestige (PEP) on these outcomes. This research model was tested in a survey of N = 300 employees of four Italian organizations from different sectors. Results show that team identification, but not organizational identification, predicts counterproductive behavior and citizenship behavior and mediates the influence of CC and PEP. To enhance team identification for sustaining positive voluntary behavior at work, two possible strategies could be considered: improving perceived external prestige and promoting a good communication climate.