Decision Making in Information-Rich Environments: The Role of Information Structure

It is argued that traditional approaches to measuring the amount of information in a choice set fail to account for important structural dimensions of information and may therefore incorrectly predict information overload.

Abstract

Today's consumers are often overloaded with information. This article argues that traditional approaches to measuring the amount of information in a choice set fail to account for important structural dimensions of information and may therefore incorrectly predict information overload. Two experiments show that a structural approach to measuring information, such as information theory, is better able to predict information overload and that information structure also has important implications for information acquisition. A Monte-Carlo simulation, in which decision rules are applied to multiple information environments, shows that the amount of information processing mediates the relationship between information structure and information overload. Copyright 2004 by the University of Chicago.