Title: Information and ill-structured decisions: the effects of web use and feedback

Authors: David McLain; Jinpei Wu

Addresses: School of Business, State University of New York at Oswego, 135 Rich Hall, Oswego, NY 13126, USA ' School of Business, State University of New York at Oswego, 310 Rich Hall, Oswego, NY 13126, USA

Abstract: Most problems have information deficits, motivating decision-makers to seek additional information beyond personal experience. The World Wide Web and performance feedback are especially accessible information resources. An experiment testing the influence of web and feedback information on performance at making ill-structured decisions revealed that mere belief in the web's usefulness did not predict better decisions. Actual web use provided inconsistent benefits, but expectations-clarifying feedback consistently drove significant decision improvements. Simple knowledge-of-results feedback, however, was of no benefit. Relevant experience, the foundation on which decision information is built, also improved decisions. Scholars should consider the influence of multiple information sources on decisions, specifically ill-structured decisions. Practitioners should encourage more feedback-seeking and experience expansion while understanding the limitations of the web.

Keywords: decision-making; web; internet; feedback; performance; internet attitude; information resources; ecological validity; experiment; ambiguity; uncertainty.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDSRM.2022.125011

International Journal of Decision Sciences, Risk and Management, 2022 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.189 - 211

Received: 10 Sep 2021
Accepted: 27 Dec 2021
Published online: 22 Aug 2022 *