Decision-making under time pressure: The effects of time pressure on information search strategy, decision strategy, consistency, and outcome quality.

Abstract

The design of information systems to support crisis management can be improved when more is known about the ways in which people process information under time pressure. A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of time pressure on decision behavior. The decision task required the subjects to use a computerized information display to search for information under time pressure. When the time limit for searching expired, the subjects were required to make a decision. The decision task type, choice or judgment, and three separate information display formats were also manipulated. A total of 144 student subjects were randomly assigned to the resulting six combinations of task/display treatments. Each subject performed the decision task at three levels of time pressure. Dependent measures included information search strategy, decision strategy, decision consistency, and decision quality. Analyses of the results suggest that time pressure had no effect on the information search strategy or the decision strategy. For five of the six task/display groups, time pressure was inversely related to consistency and quality. One group exhibited an inverted U relationship between time pressure and consistency. Display format had an effect on information search strategy. Task type had an effect on both consistency and quality; the performances of the choice groups were superior to those of the judgment groups. The implications of these findings with respect to the design of information systems is discussed.