Managerial decision making under specific emotions

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate decision-processing effects of incidental emotions in managerial decision-making situations. Design/methodology/approach – A complex multi-attribute, multi-alternative decision task related to international human resources management is used as a research vehicle. The data are obtained by means of an electronic information board. Findings – Happiness and anger cause the decision maker to process less decision-relevant information, whereas fear activates more detail-oriented processing. The results are explained within the valence model and cognitive-appraisal framework. Research limitations/implications – A boundary condition of the study is the level of induced emotions. Processing effects of extremely high levels of emotions are not examined, which necessarily limits the generalizability of the findings. Also, the experiment focusses on the decision-processing effects of single isolated emotions extracted by manipulations; future research needs to examine decision-making implications of an entire emotion episode, which is likely to contain emotion mixtures. Practical implications – For managers, this study demonstrates the importance of being mindful of how incidental emotional states can bias choice processing in complex managerial decisions. Originality/value – This study extends earlier organizational research by focussing on decision-making consequences of emotion, rather than those of mood or stress. It brings together research on incidental emotions and process-tracing methodologies, thereby allowing for more direct assessment of the observed effects. Decision-processing consequences of emotion are shown to persist throughout a content-rich managerial decision task without being neutralized by an intensive cognitive engagement.

Decision‐making styles, anxiety levels, and critical thinking levels of nurses

“…The CTD is of great importance at this stage. Emotions affect a series of critical cognitive tasks and outputs, including data processing, judgment, and decision-making (Bachkirov, 2015;Brosch, Scherer, Grandjean, & Sander, 2013;Thiel, Connelly, & Griffith, 2012;Zhang, Wang, Zhu, Yu, & Chen, 2015). In the literature, there are studies indicating that anxiety affects decision-making (Miu et al, 2008).…”

“…According to Bachkirov () different feelings can affect decision‐making in different ways. High levels of continuous anxiety negatively affect decision‐making.…”

“Leadership? No, Thanks!” A New Construct: Worries About Leadership

“…We recorded 5 minutes of baseline data, during which time the participant sat still and watched a relaxing presentation (e.g. Bachkirov, ). After the baseline recording was over, the presentation automatically proceeded to the 16‐item WAL scale.…”

Development and validation of the Inventory of Emotional and Reasoned Purchases Decision-Making Styles (PDMI)

“…On the other hand, correlations of the PDMI-Emotional and the PDMI-Reasoned dimensions concerning Emotions and affective states of purchases scale (Palacios & Viloria, 2017) show consistency in the fact that impulsivity, negative emotions, frustration, anger and indebtedness are associated with negative emotions (Iyengar & Lepper, 2000;Keltner & Lerner, 2010), while hedonism is associated with positive emotions (Keltner & Lerner, 2010). Positive relationship of reasoning with positive emotions and inversely proportional relationship with negative emotions has been supported in several studies (Bachkirov, 2015). Previous evidence provides convergent validity, while the appropriate adjustment of the covariance model between the PDMI-Emotional and the PDMI-Reasoned shows evidence of divergent validity, identifying and sustaining the independence of the emotional characteristics of cognitive processing.…”

“…Two stimuli words were used, "Impulsive consumption" and "Reasoned consumption", in line with Sproles and Kendall's (1986) cognitive and affective decision styles, and with Kahneman's (2011) deliberate and slow versus intuitive, emotional and fast systems. These ideas about two dimensions of consumer decision making also find support in Bachkirov (2015) for management decisions, and in Shiv and Fedorikhin (1999) in the consumer decisions area.…”