AOM 2008
From OBTnotes
Sessions I attended at AOM 2008
Antecedents of Decision Effectiveness
Chair: Colin Eden; Strathclyde U. Discussant: Steve Arendall; Union U.
Decision Making under Time Pressure: The Influence of Cognitive Style and Expertise on Performance
- Thorvald Haerem; Norwegian School of Management
- Bjørn Tallak Bakken; Norwegian Defence Academy
- Devaki Rau; Northern Illinois U
This study contributes to the literatures on decision making, cognitive styles, and expertise by investigating how the degree of expertise and preferred cognitive style of an individual influence his or her performance on tasks involving decision making under time pressure. We examine performance on a variety of tasks by using a computer simulation specifically designed for experimental purposes (www.mindlab.no). As expected, experts perform better than novices. Contrary to predictions of theories of cognitive styles and decision making, however, we find that, for both experts and novices, a preference for an intuitive cognitive style does not influence performance under conditions of time pressure. Instead, experts with a high preference for an analytical cognitive style outperform experts with a low preference for an analytical cognitive style under conditions of time pressure. The reverse is true for novices. In the case of these individuals, a low preference for an analytical cognitive style leads to better performance than a high preference for an analytical cognitive style.
The Effect of Hierarchical Level on the Content and Structure of Managers’ Mental Models
- Artur Baldauf; U. of Bern
- William L. Cron; Texas Christian U
- Samuel Grossenbacher; U. of Bern
Managers’ mental models influence their decision-making and performance in organizations. The antecedents that might determine managers’ mental models, however, have received scant empirical attention. In our study we examine the effect of hierarchical level on the content and structure of mental models of management dyads, consisting of executives and their subordinate team managers. The repertory grid technique was applied to elicit mental models of the respondents. Our pattern of results indicates that both content and structure of mental models are partly impacted by hierarchical level. While the content of managers’ mental models does not vary between hierarchical level, the relevance of the content for decision-making does differ between executives and team managers. Regarding the structure of mental models, managers from different hierarchical levels mentioned the same number of content attributes, but executives’ mental models exhibit higher cognitive integration than their subordinate team managers. The implications of hierarchical level as an antecedent of mental models are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.
Value from Fit: The Effect of Assessment Orientation on Decision Processes
- Xi Zou; Columbia U.
- Kirstin C. Appelt; Columbia U.
When discussing decision processes and outcomes, it is often said that "the ends justify the means." We ask whether the means can justify the ends. In a decision-making situation where the option that entails proper means and the option that entails a better outcome value are in conflict, will the decision maker choose the means or the outcome? We hypothesized that people will prefer the option that better sustains their regulatory orientations, even if that choice leads to sub-optimal outcomes. We focused on regulatory mode and asked whether participants with an assessment orientation would choose the option that enables their preferred decision-making strategy by providing comparison opportunities, even when this option leads to a worse expected return.
- Erik Ian Dane; Rice U.
While a number of researchers have focused on the role of experience as a determinant of decision effectiveness among professionals, there is a paucity of research examining how the nature of this relationship may vary with regard to different types of decision tasks (i.e., static versus dynamic). Based on an inductive study of professional trial lawyers, the findings reported here demonstrate that dynamic decision-making effectiveness increases through experience, in part due to an increase in mindfulness. At the same time, static decision-making effectiveness may become compromised at high levels of experience due to several phenomena revealed in this study.
To What Extent Are Comparative Judgments Based on Individual Judgments?
- Joseph R. Radzevick; Carnegie Mellon U.
Comparative judgments are an essential part of the way in which we perceive and act in the world. In this paper, I examine the extent to which individuals' comparisons draw upon their underlying individual judgments by systematically asking individuals to make a series of comparative judgments along with their embedded individual judgments. I utilize the reaction times associated with those judgments to examine the cognitive processes involved in making such judgments. Evidence from two studies suggests that individuals construct comparisons largely based upon individual judgments, as shown by instances of both direct and indirect comparisons. Reaction times for comparative judgments are faster following individual judgments, as are those for individual judgments following previous individual judgments. Complete series of judgments occur faster when they allow for a constructive (comparisons following individual judgments) approach. I also find that comparisons of a social nature operate much the same way as more neutral comparisons, implying that more generalized judgment mechanisms may drive the comparative judgment processes.
Negotiation "Through the Looking Glass": The contrarian effects of good intentions and bad behaviors
Chair: Marwan Sinaceur; INSEAD
This symposium presents contrarian results in negotiation, that is, results suggesting how strategies normally associated with value enhancing negotiation behavior can work against the focal negotiator’s success while others, normally associated with detrimental negotiation outcomes, actually prove to enhance outcomes. In the first three presentations, concern for another and making first offers are shown to be detrimental to negotiators. Wiltermuth finds that concern for another’s outcomes leads negotiators to make value-destructive concessions. This is especially so when that concern is not reciprocated by the counterpart. Gilin, Maddux, and Galinsky demonstrate that concern for another, in the form of perspective-taking and empathy, is not always beneficial. This, they find, depends on the interaction: perspective-taking only helps when challenges are cognitive; and, empathy only helps when social connection is critical. Questioning another “good” strategy, Rosette and Kopelman examine how making first offers increases negotiators’ feelings of anxiety and decreases their satisfaction, because it increases one’s fear of being taken advantage. In the last two presentations, anger and threats are shown to be beneficial to negotiators’ value creation and value claiming, respectively. Anderson and Neale demonstrate how anger feelings can be beneficial to value creation when it is accompanied by uncertainty, due to angry, but uncertain, negotiators exhibiting greater cognitive complexity. Finally, Sinaceur, Van Kleef, Neale, Adam and Haag show that threats can be more beneficial than anger communication in value claiming, due to negotiators ascribing more poise to a threatening opponent.
Value-destructive concessions: Deadweight loss and good intentions
- Scott Wiltermuth; Stanford U.
The differential value of perspective taking versus empathy in distinct types of conflict situations
- Debra Gilin; st marys U.
- William W. Maddux; INSEAD
Good Grief! Feelings of Anxiety Sour the Economic Benefits of First Offers
- Ashleigh Shelby Rosette; Duke U.
- Shirli Kopelman; U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor
All fired up, but who to blame? : The benefits of anger and uncertainty in negotiations
- Nicholas Anderson; Stanford U.
- Margaret A. Neale; Stanford U.
Hot or Icy? Comparing the Effectiveness of Anger and Threat Communication in Negotiation
- Marwan Sinaceur; INSEAD
- Gerben A. Van Kleef; U. of Amsterdam
- Margaret A. Neale; Stanford U.
- Hajo Adam; INSEAD
- Haag Christophe; EM Lyon
Information, Instrumentality, and Social Comparison: Frontiers in Negotiation Research
Chair: Don Moore; Carnegie Mellon U.; [E-Mail This Contact]
Getting to NO: Theory and Evidence for Instrumental Negotiations
- Krishnan S. Anand; Wharton OPIM; [E-Mail This Contact]
- Pnina Feldman; Wharton OPIM; [E-Mail This Contact]
- Maurice Schweitzer; U. of Pennsylvania; [E-Mail This Contact]
A substantial literature has examined negotiation problems. Throughout this literature, scholars have assumed that participants approach negotiations with the intent of reaching a deal and that negotiation participants cannot be significantly harmed by the negotiation process. In this paper, we challenge these assumptions. We define situations in which negotiators use the negotiation process to achieve goals other than reaching a potential agreement as instrumental negotiations. We explore the implications of this broader conceptualization of negotiations both theoretically and experimentally. We demonstrate that the mere possibility of encountering an instrumental negotiator significantly changes Nash equilibria and actual behavior; some negotiators are harmed by instrumental negotiators and other negotiators reject sincere overtures to negotiate. The possibilty of instrumental negotiations significantly harms profits. We consider theoretical, prescriptive, and policy implications of these results.
Regulatory Focus and Social Decision-Making: Securing Interdependence through Social Comparison
- Geoffrey Leonardelli; U. of Toronto; [E-Mail This Contact]
- Jun Gu; U. of Toronto; [E-Mail This Contact]
Little research has investigated different ways individuals may pursue self-interest in interdependent decision-making, and we sought to do so, by investigating the role of regulatory focus (Higgins, 1998). Relative to a focus on growth and nurturance (a promotion focus), we argue that a focus on safety and security (a prevention focus) will lead to a greater use of social comparisons when deciding how to share value with another party. Three studies supported this prediction by revealing that a prevention focus more than a promotion focus led to greater intentions to do better than the other party (when motivated to be proself), greater intentions to minimize the differences between their and the other party¡¯s outcomes (when motivated to be prosocial), and in mixed-motive contexts such as negotiation, were more susceptible to a fixed-pie perception, where they believe that their interests must necessarily conflict with the other party. The discussion addresses the implications for self-regulation and social conflict.
The Pursuit of Missing Information: Implications for Dispute Resolution and Negotiation
- Maia J. Young; U. of California, Los Angeles; [E-Mail This Contact]
- Ning Chen; U. of California, Los Angeles; [E-Mail This Contact]
- Anthony Bastardi; Princeton U.; [E-Mail This Contact]
The current research investigates the pursuit of uncertain information in negotiations. We find evidence in four studies that seeking uncertain information leads individuals to utilize it more than if the information had been available at the outset of the negotiation, no matter whether the information is instrumental. In Study 1, some participants sought uncertain information about the cost of persisting in a hypothetical struggle, and other participants were given the same information upfront. Those who pursued the information used it more in their decision to reject a compromise offer. In Study 2, the sought-after information influenced participants¡¯ decision-making even when it was ultimately bad news for their side. In Study 3, seeking information in a face-to-face negotiation led negotiators to make higher initial offers but subsequently greater concessions than they would have if they had simply had the information to begin with. Study 4 provided more direct evidence that the sought-after information led strategically inflated initial offers than if the information were originally available.
Environmental and Outcome-Based Influences on Unethical Behavior
Chair: Francesca Gino; Carnegie Mellon U. Discussant: Max H. Bazerman; Harvard U.
Evidence suggests that ethical misconduct has widespread effects on organizations. Both the popular press and academic studies have identified that consumers and employees commonly violate company rules or engage in unethical behavior at work. This symposium explores whether unethical behavior is an indiscriminant epidemic, or whether the situational environment and knowledge of the consequences of actions influence much of this behavior. Several models of unethical behavior suggest that misconduct is influenced by a person-situation interaction. Specifically, the tendency of people to engage in unethical behavior depends on both characteristics of the environment and characteristics of the individual. The knowledge of consequential outcomes may also have a major influence on ethical decision-making. Individuals may view the ethicality of their own or others’ decisions based on their observation of the outcome rather than the actual choice. This symposium is composed of experimental papers exploring the role of situational environment and outcome revelation on ethical decision-making. The findings, which show that both stimuli can have dramatic effects on individual choices, have major implications for how organizations manage their members and employees. Manipulating the work environment and exposing employees to the consequences of their actions can reduce self-interested, exploitative, and unethical behavior.
Outcome Bias in Judging Others' Unethical Behavior
- Francesca Gino; Carnegie Mellon U.
- Don Moore; Carnegie Mellon U.
How to Turn Pro-Social Behavior On/Off: Paying People to Look at the Outcomes of their Actions
- Daylian Cain; Carnegie Mellon U.
- Jason Dana; Carnegie Mellon U.
Environmental Cleanliness and the Regulation of Ethical Behavior
- Katie Liljenquist; Brigham Young U.
- Chen-Bo Zhong; U. of Toronto
- Adam D. Galinsky; Northwestern U.
Reversing the Scarcity Effect: Unethical Behavior in Conditions of Abundance
- J. Lamar Pierce; Washington U. in St. Louis
- Francesca Gino; Carnegie Mellon U.
Attracting, Selecting, and Joining Up
Discussant: Ramon J. Aldag; U. of Wisconsin, Madison Chair: Aarti Ramaswami; Indiana U. Bloomington
Correspondence Bias in Selection Decisions
- Zachariah Steven Sharek; Carnegie Mellon U.
- Sam Swift; Carnegie Mellon U.
When explaining others’ behaviors, achievements, and failures, it is common for people to attribute too much influence to the individual’s disposition and too little influence to the structural and situational influences impinging on the actor. Although performance is a joint function of ability and situational facilitation or impediments, dispositional inference ascribes too much to individual ability. We hypothesize that this tendency leads people to select candidates who dealt with an easy task because they will have their high performance mistaken for evidence of high ability. In two studies using laboratory experiments, we show that those who display high performance simply due to an easy task are favored in selection. The studies investigate the robustness of this effect as well as the conditions under which the effect can be reduced or reversed.
Interpersonal Sensitivity and Information Sharing During Layoffs: Effects on Job Seekers
- Rainer Seitz; Self-employed
- Donald M Truxillo; Portland State U.
- Talya N. Bauer; Portland State U.
- Robert R Sinclair; Portland State U.
Although layoffs have received much attention in the research literature, little is known about the effects of layoffs on the larger pool of job seekers. In addition, little is known about individual differences, and research has not directly examined the important role of interpersonal sensitivity in job seekers’ reactions to layoffs. Using an organizational justice framework, we examined job seekers’ reactions to companies after reading newspaper articles describing a layoff at a fictitious organization. Results indicated that lower levels of interpersonal sensitivity and information sharing in the layoff scenarios were associated with lower procedural fairness perceptions, lower organizational attractiveness, and lower anticipated organizational support. Relational employment goals and equity sensitivity were found to have main effects on reactions to layoffs. Our discussion focuses on the implications for research on job seekers and layoff fairness, as well as implications for management practice