Assessing Screening and Evaluation Decision Support Systems: A Resource-Matching Approach

Testing the interaction between decision aid features and attribute load under varying product attribute-load conditions reveals that consumers will process more information and decision performance will be enhanced where the decision aids render cognitive resources that match those demanded for the task environment.

Abstract

This research explores how consumers use online decision aids with screening and evaluation support functionalities under varying product attribute-load conditions. Drawing on resource-matching theory, we conducted a 3 × 2 factorial experiment to test the interaction between decision aid features (i.e., low versus high-screening support, and aids with weight assignment and computation decision tools) and attribute load (i.e., large versus small number of product attributes) on decision performance. The findings reveal that: (1) where the decision aids render cognitive resources that match those demanded for the task environment, consumers will process more information and decision performance will be enhanced; (2) where the decision aids render cognitive resources that exceed those demanded for the task environment, consumers will engage in less task-related elaboration of decision-making issues to the detriment of decision performance; and (3) where the decision aids render cognitive resources that fall short of those demanded for the task environment, consumers will use simplistic heuristic decision strategies to the detriment of decision performance or invest additional effort in information processing to attain a better decision performance if they perceive the additional investments in effort to be manageable.