IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jbecon/v86y2016i4d10.1007_s11573-015-0792-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choice reversal in management decisions: the seductive force of new information

Author

Listed:
  • Jörn Sebastian Basel

    (Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences)

  • Rolf Brühl

    (ESCP Europe Business School)

Abstract

The way in which objectively similar information is presented influences the direction of choice and decisions. Therefore, the sequential order in which information is presented to managers may have a relevant impact on how this information is perceived and evaluated. This study examines the consequences of information pursuit on judgment and decision making (JDM) in managerial decision making. In four experimental JDM-scenarios information pursuit was realised by a step-by-step approach with a time delay in which one group had the option of waiting for additional, non-instrumental information. Results indicate that the acquisition of new information, even if it is non-instrumental, leads to choice reversals (in one out of two scenarios) or to choice enhancement (in one out of two scenarios). In line with social psychology theories, we argue that the mental costs of information gathering lets participants believe that this information is more relevant than the already known facts. Our findings contribute to managerial JDM literature and indicate that cognitive dissonance and self-affirmation can significantly impact choices and decisions during information pursuit.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörn Sebastian Basel & Rolf Brühl, 2016. "Choice reversal in management decisions: the seductive force of new information," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(4), pages 343-359, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:86:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11573-015-0792-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-015-0792-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11573-015-0792-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11573-015-0792-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dhar, Ravi, 1997. "Consumer Preference for a No-Choice Option," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 215-231, September.
    2. Kahneman, Daniel & Tversky, Amos, 1979. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 263-291, March.
    3. Remus, William, 1986. "Graduate students as surrogates for managers in experiments on business decision making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 19-25, February.
    4. Dillard, Jesse F. & Kauffman, N. Leroy & Spires, Eric E., 1991. "Evidence order and belief revision in management accounting decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 619-633.
    5. Dai, Xianchi & Fishbach, Ayelet, 2013. "When waiting to choose increases patience," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 256-266.
    6. Daniel Zizzo, 2010. "Experimenter demand effects in economic experiments," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 13(1), pages 75-98, March.
    7. Michael Birnbaum, 2000. "Psychological experiments on the internet," Framed Field Experiments 00125, The Field Experiments Website.
    8. Donald A. Redelmeier & Eldar Shafir & Prince S. Aujla, 2001. "The Beguiling Pursuit of More Information," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 21(5), pages 376-381, October.
    9. Gino, Francesca, 2008. "Do we listen to advice just because we paid for it? The impact of advice cost on its use," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 234-245, November.
    10. Arkes, Hal R. & Blumer, Catherine, 1985. "The psychology of sunk cost," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 124-140, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jörn S. Basel & Katja Rubin, 2021. "Repair of Trust Through Apology at a Reputable Company: The Case of PostBus In Switzerland," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 12(3), pages 116-138, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duxbury, Darren, 2012. "Sunk costs and sunk benefits: A re-examination of re-investment decisions," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 144-156.
    2. Ran Kivetz, 2003. "The Effects of Effort and Intrinsic Motivation on Risky Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 477-502, December.
    3. Priyodorshi Banerjee & S. Chandrasekhar & P. Srikant, 2019. "Persistent Sunk Cost Fallacy in a Real Effort Experiment," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 7(1), pages 161-172, June.
    4. Freeman, Steven F., 1997. "Good decisions : reconciling human rationality, evolution, and ethics," Working papers WP 3962-97., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    5. Christoph Bühren & Thorben C. Kundt, 2013. "Worker or Shirker – Who Evades More Taxes? A Real Effort Experiment," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201326, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    6. Argenton, Cedric & Wang, Xiaoyu, 2020. "Litigation and Settlement under Loss Aversion," Discussion Paper 2020-008, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. R. Luce & A. Marley, 2005. "Ranked Additive Utility Representations of Gambles: Old and New Axiomatizations," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 21-62, January.
    8. Goodwin, Paul & Önkal, Dilek & Thomson, Mary, 2010. "Do forecasts expressed as prediction intervals improve production planning decisions?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(1), pages 195-201, August.
    9. Katarína Danková & Hodaka Morita & Maroš Servátka & Le Zhang, 2022. "Fairness concerns and job assignment to positions with different surplus," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(4), pages 1490-1516, April.
    10. Ronayne, David & Sgroi, Daniel & Tuckwell, Anthony, 2021. "Evaluating the sunk cost effect," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 318-327.
    11. Florian Heine & Martin Sefton, 2018. "To Tender or Not to Tender? Deliberate and Exogenous Sunk Costs in a Public Good Game," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-28, June.
    12. Anthony Koschmann, 2019. "Evaluating the durability of brand alliances using Bayesian methods," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 268-276, May.
    13. Cheng, Yin-Hui & Chuang, Shih-Chieh & Pei-I Yu, Annie & Lai, Wan-Ting, 2019. "Change in your wallet, change your choice: The effect of the change-matching heuristic on choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 67-76.
    14. Mujcic, Redzo & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2022. "How Do Humans Respond to Huge Financial Losses?," IZA Discussion Papers 15536, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Palmeira, Mauricio, 2020. "Advice in the presence of external cues: The impact of conflicting judgments on perceptions of expertise," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 82-96.
    16. Nathalie Etchart-Vincent & Olivier l’Haridon, 2011. "Monetary incentives in the loss domain and behavior toward risk: An experimental comparison of three reward schemes including real losses," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 61-83, February.
    17. repec:cup:judgdm:v:7:y:2012:i:4:p:462-471 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Carolin Fritzsche & Lars Vandrei, 2018. "Causes of Vacancies in the Housing Market – A Literature Review," ifo Working Paper Series 258, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    19. Daniel Friedman & Kai Pommerenke & Rajan Lukose & Garrett Milam & Bernardo Huberman, 2007. "Searching for the sunk cost fallacy," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 10(1), pages 79-104, March.
    20. Mark D. Packard & Brent B. Clark & Peter G. Klein, 2017. "Uncertainty Types and Transitions in the Entrepreneurial Process," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 840-856, October.
    21. Englmaier, Florian & Schmöller, Arno, 2010. "Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Hattrick Auctions," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 326, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Choice reversal; Experience; Information pursuit bias; Procedural invariance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:86:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11573-015-0792-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.