Over the last 25 year IT development has greatly influenced the waycompanies are managed, the tremendous growth in the information society has made a huge amount of information extremely accessible. This has resulted in the problem of information overload where the large amount of information can affect the quality of a decision basis collected by a controller. The purpose of the study is to examine how a controller is affected by information overload and how this influences the decision basis. We intend to highlight the important elements to represent a high quality of information. A survey was conducted through a case study within a global affiliated company in the packaging industry. An adductive approach has been applied with a qualitative research method. Collected empirical material from interviews has been put into relation with existing theories. The case study indicates that there is no relationship between the problem of information overload and flawed decision basis. The study identified important factors in preventing problems with consolidation of information and how the controller use structures to deal with a huge amount of data. To deal with the problem several key factors has been identified: Subsystems that communicate with each other, structures within  the  ERP-system,  transparency,  well-defined  templates  andstandardized processes for how different tasks should be completed. / Bakgrund: IT-utvecklingen har under en 25-årsperiod kraftigt influerat hur företag styrs, den enorma tillväxten i informationssamhället har resulterat i att en enorm mängd information blivit oerhört lättillgänglig. Detta har resulterat i problem med informationsöverflöd där informationen blir för omfattande och således riskerar en controllers beslutsunderlag att brista i kvalité. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka huruvida en controller påverkas av informationsöverflöd och hur detta influerar på beslutsunderlag. Vi ämnar redogöra vilka faktorer som är viktiga för att ge hög informationskvalité. Metod: Undersökningen har genomförts genom en fallstudie på ett globalt koncernbolag inom förpackningsindustrin. Ett abduktivt angreppssätt har tillämpats med en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Insamlat empiriskt material från intervjuer har ställts i relation till befintliga teorier. Slutsats: Fallstudiens resultat påvisar att något samband mellan informationsöverflöd och bristfälliga beslutsunderlag inte föreligger. Under studiens gång har det identifierats viktiga faktorer för att förebygga problem med konsolidering av information och hur controllers använder strukturer för att hantera stora mängder data. De nyckelfaktorer för att hantera problemet är: delsystem som kommunicerar med varandra, strukturer inom affärssystemet, transparens samt väldefinierade mallar och standardiserade processer för hur olika arbetsuppgifter ska gå till.

The buying decision process describes how the consumer makes a purchase decision through a rational process (Markin, 1979) and an understanding for how consumers make a purchase decision can according to Sands et al. (2010) be obtained by increased knowledge for the information search process (the second part of the buying decision process) before a purchase. Today’s society offers great opportunity to obtain information (Rahim & Clemens, 2012; Bawden & Robinson, 2009) and by that there are in other words good opportunities for a rational acting by the consumers. However, there are factors working against that consumers act rationally and seek information prior to their purchases primarily in the form of the concept of information overload (Bawden & Robinson, 2009) which claims that consumers are limited in their information search because there is too much information but also other factors such as lack of time (Wood & Neal, 2009) and ability to find information (Slegers et al. 2012) are believed to affect the information search process. The purpose of this essay is to describe the information search behavior of consumers prior to a purchase considering irrational purchase decisions or the possibility of rational purchase decisions linked to product category and age because these variables are assumed to have an impact on the information search behavior prior to a purchase (Nelson, 1970; Phillips & Sternthal, 1977; Sledgers et al., 2012). The method applied in this essay is structured interviews conducted in a shopping center in the central parts of Örebro and the participating respondents are consumers who just made a purchase. The results of the study indicate that the majority of the consumers are making irrational purchase decisions and that they therefore do not use the opportunity to act rationally, although today’s society provide good opportunities. The information search behavior doesn’t seem to depend on product category except that the information sources used differ among categories. The result also shows that younger consumers search more information in comparison with older consumers. Another finding is that neither ability to find information, lack of time or information overload seem to be reasons for that the majority of the consumers have not searched for information and nor do it seem to be the reason for why the consumers that do search for information stop to search. That they are not seeking seems instead to be because they feel that they know enough about the kind of product they have bought and the main reason that those who search stop to search is that they feel that they have found enough information to make a purchase decision. Key words: Consumer behavior, purchase decisions, the buying decision process, information search, rationality, irrationality, search goods, experience goods, information overload

abstract: This thesis describes research into the application of socially reflective, or "Slow", design principles to modern mediated systems, or "Fast" technology. The "information overload" caused by drastic changes in the nature of human communications in the last decade has become a serious problem, with many human-technology interactions creating mental confusion, personal discomfort and a sense of disconnection. Slow design principles aim to help create interactions that avoid these problems by increasing interaction richness, encouraging engagement with local communities, and promoting personal and communal reflection. Three major functional mediated systems were constructed to examine the application of Slow principles on multiple scales: KiteViz, Taskville and Your ____ Here. Each system was designed based on a survey of current research within the field and previous research results. KiteViz is a visually metaphorical display of Twitter activity within a small group, Taskville is a workplace game designed to support collaboration and group awareness in an enterprise, and Your ____ Here is a physical-digital projection system that augments built architecture with user-submitted content to promote discussion and reflection. Each system was tested with multiple users and user groups, the systems were evaluated for their effectiveness in supporting each of the tenets of Slow design, and the results were collected into a set of key findings. Each system was considered generally effective, with specific strengths varying. The thesis concludes with a framework of five major principles to be used in the design of modern, highly-mediated systems that still apply Slow design principles: design for fundamental understanding, handle complexity gracefully, Slow is a process of evolution and revelation, leverage groups and personal connections to encode value, and allow for participation across a widely distributed range of scales. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.D. Design 2011

Vilken effekt frivilligt redovisad information har på kapitalmarknaden är en omstridd fråga i litteraturen. Vissa menar att mer information minskar informationsasymmetrin på kapitalmarknaden medan andra finner motsatt resultat, där en förklaring är information overload. Denna studie bidrar till frågan genom att studera rapportlängden samt informationsinnehållet i kvartalsrapporter från 155 bolag noterade på Nasdaq Stockholm under åren 2015-2016, där bid-ask spread och handelsvolym används som mått på informationsasymmetri. Av fyra genomförda regressionsanalyser visar två signifikanta resultat. De signifikanta resultaten visar att frivilligt redovisad information höjer handelsvolymen, vilket indikerar att informationsasymmetrin på kapitalmarknaden minskar. Detta resultat har betydelse för såväl företag som standardsättare såsom IASB eftersom det tyder på att den svenska marknaden efterfrågar mer redovisad information.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explain whether the conceptualized model of consumer confusion regarding the multiple number of brands and products also applies to the increasing number of eco-labels. The study also examined how the attitudes were affected if confusion occurred amongst the consumers. More specifically, whether consumer confusion leads to negative attitudes. Theoretical Framework: The conceptualized model of consumer confusion, including the three dimensions of ambiguity, information overload and similarity was used in this research.In addition, theories regarding attitudes and indicators that affect consumer’s attitudes werepresented and used for the analysis. Methodological Framework: This research took an explanatory and deductive approach. The research was carried out with a quantitative method including three hypotheses derived from the literature. Data was collected through a questionnaire that was spread online on social media. The gathered data was coded accordingly in order to get the results from the frequencies, descriptive statistics, correlation and the regression analysis. Empirical Results: It was discovered that the respondents were confused by eco-labels and eco-labelled products regarding all the three dimensions of the conceptualized model of consumer confusion. However, the fact that the attitudes towards eco-labels and eco-labelled products were very positive, led to a rejection of all the three hypotheses. Consequently, supportive questions from the questionnaire and the demographic details of the sample served as additional support to further discuss the results of the study. Conclusions: This study showed that the conceptualized model of consumer confusion also applies to eco-labels. However, the consumers still had positive attitudes towards eco-labels and eco-labelled products which could be seen as contradictory. Nevertheless, positive beliefs about eco-labels and its effects and demographic details were found to have an impact on the positive attitudes.

Context. Information overload is an increasingly important problem of our age where the amount of data we have is expanding drastically with the use of digital communication. Information retrieval models are developed to help overcoming this problem with computerized tools. Semantic information retrieval, which means retrieving information based on the interpretations of meanings of the words, is one of these models and started to be used commonly to handle large amount of data in the Internet and in enterprises to overcome information overload problems. Objectives. In this study we investigate different information retrieval models for using with knowledge management systems in large-scale organizations from the perspective of software engineers. To this end, we aim at identifying existing issues and needs about information overload and then assessing different solutions against these needs. Afterwards, we analyze the chosen solution, which is semantic search, and define and carry out an implementation process to reflect on it. Finally, the usefulness and feasibility of this type of solutions to overcome the specified information overload problems in software engineering is studied and discussed. Methods. We performed a literature review to extract the existing knowledge, technology, and the problems and solutions in the defined context. Then a case study was conducted at a development site of Ericsson AB in Sweden. Case study involved unstructured and semi-structured interviews for data collection, and an implementation attempt for a simple semantic knowledge management system. Thematic Coding Analysis method is used for qualitative data analysis. Results. We identified 23 codes that are categorized under 8 themes from the opinions of company practitioners about semantic knowledge management systems. They are mainly about the existing problems, arguments for using semantic system for solving them, and suggestions and challenges. Conclusions. We conclude that semantic knowledge management systems have a very high potential to solve information overload problems in software engineering if the necessary measures are taken. We found that the problems are related to search engine and the document structure of the tools; usefulness of semantic system is the capability of ontology based retrieval to filter out irrelevant documents and extract hidden data and people’s skills and interests; and finally the challenge is the necessary endeavor to elicit and satisfy all the needs.

Att uppnå situationsmedvetenhet kan helt avgöra ifall en person klarar av att lösa en specifik uppgift eller inte. Dagens ledningssystem har ofta som uppgift att stödja användaren att upp nå situationsmedvetenhet och därmed klara av att lösa sina uppgifter. Detta examensarbete syftar till att undersöka vilka potentiella brister det kan tänkas finnas inom de militära och civila ledningssystemen. Att lista dessa problem är av intresse då det är av stor vikt att kunna se hur dessa system skulle kunna tänkas förbättras. Både utvecklare och användare har intervjuats i syfte att samla in viktiga åsikter. Resultatet blev en lista där de största problemen redovisades samt vilken inverkan de kan tänkas ha på användaren och dennes arbetsuppgifter.

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As workplaces have become more digitalized and improvements constantly being made in order to optimize performance, it becomes pivotal for managers to understand how stress within organizations can be linked to the information- and communication technology within them. This thesis addresses the research gap of several studies existing regarding technology-related stress, but where a majority of them are quantitative in nature and overlooking the important aspect of organizational culture. The purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding regarding how managers perceive technostress in their organization, and how counterstrategies, if any, are applied. The added value of this research is that it highlights how poorly understood the problem of information overload is amongst certain managers, while highlighting the cultural aspects within organizations and their contributions to the problem. The results show that while many aspects related to information overload are noticed by managers and employees alike, very few – if any – counterstrategies exists in order to highlight and combat the problems that information overload entails. While individual practices existed, few could be realized at an organizational level without first addressing company culture.

Stock market investors are making investment decisions in an information-rich environment. In their attempt to afford investors all the decision-relevant information, standard setters are continually adding to the already weighty load seemingly oblivious to the cognitive limitations of humans. Information overload has long been recognized as a problem to decision-makers. The information overload literature is robust with studies supporting the inverted U hypothesis: Decision accuracy will increase with additional information to the point of maximum processing capability, then decline. The decision style literature has supported the theory that individuals can be classified according to the quantity of information that they are able to process effectively. This study combined the two theories to develop hypotheses about how investors with differing decision styles might behave differently in an information-rich environment. The hypotheses were tested in an internet-based stock market investment experiment. In general, the study did not find significant differences in the decisions of investors with different decision styles. Though the results of the experiment failed to support most of the hypotheses, the study revealed some interesting facts about the investors who participated in this study. There was an unusually high concentration of the analytic decision style in this group. This style, according to the theory, is the one best able to manage high information processing demands. A further analysis of the respondent style dominance reveals that all of the styles had significant analytic influence. This could explain the lack of variation in the decision accuracy of the respondents. It is also possible that the respondents in this study did not reach a point of information overload. Based on prior literature, the study incorporated ten information items. However, the particular items selected may not have created a sense of information overload for the respondents. Future research should increase the information available to respondents and observe whether differences in decisions can be explained by differences in decision styles in an information overload situation. This study provides a baseline for future studies examining how investors make decisions when so much information is available.