Decision Modes in Complex Task Environments

The aim of this book is to understand how decisions are made in complex task environments and how decision modes affect individual-level decision performance. The book presents insights obtained over the course of a three-year research project, empirically based on studies in maritime search and rescue (MSAR). The insights are aligned with the extant decision-making literature and substantially extended to the understanding of decision-making in complex task environments. Thus, the book addresses the important field of operational decision-making in complex task environments.

Despite intense research on decision-making in action, we still know little about when decision-makers rely on deliberate vs. intuitive decision-making in decision situations under complexity and uncertainty. Building on default-interventionist dual-processing theory, this book studies decision-making modes (deliberate vs. intuitive) in complex task environments contingent on perceived complexity, experience, and decision style preference. We find that relatively inexperienced decision-makers respond to increases in subjective complexity with an increase in deliberation and tend to follow their decision style preference. Experienced decision-makers are less guided by their decision preference and respond to increases in subjective complexity only minimally. This book contributes to a developing stream of research linking decision-making with intra-personal and environmental properties and fosters our understanding of the conditions under which decision-makers rely on intuitive vs. deliberate decision modes. In doing so, we go one step further towards a comprehensive theory of decision-making in action.