As one of the factors influencing consumers purchase behavior, decision-making styles are crucial for understanding consumer shopping behavior and for developing successful marketing strategies. Decision-making styles have been mainly viewed as a relatively enduring consumer personality that seldom changes even when applied to different goods and situations. Recently, a study showed that consumer decision-making styles are influenced by product type, suggesting that decision-making styles are individual response patterns in a specific decision context rather than personality trait based. Despite extensive research regarding consumer decision making styles, relatively little attention has been paid to identify whether consumer decision-making styles are truly personality trait based or context-dependent. Thus, this work challenged the theory that decision-making styles are personality trait based and investigated whether decisionmaking styles are context dependent. Three independent studies, focusing on extending our knowledge regarding consumer decision-making styles, were conducted. The first study examined whether consumer decision-making styles depend on channel type (online versus offline channels). In addition, it explored new types of decision-making styles which better represent current consumer needs and preferences. Study results supported previous arguments suggesting that decision-making styles are not personality trait based but vary across contexts. Results also demonstrated the need to continuously observe consumers’ decision-making styles and capture emerging new styles. The second study explored whether product characteristics, specifically intangibility and non-standardization, influence consumer decision-making styles in an online context. At the same time, this study examined whether there is any interaction effect between product type and product involvement. The results showed that certain types of online decision-making styles are influenced by product type. The results also showed that product involvement has an important role in influencing online decision-making styles. The third study investigated whether consumer online decision-making styles influence loyalty toward online travel agencies. The results of the study provide support for five out of eleven hypotheses, indicating that consumers’ online decision-making styles significantly influence loyalty toward online travel agencies. Finally, the overall findings, limitations of the studies, agenda for future research, and practical and theoretical implications were discussed.

This study attempts to identify how public relations practitioner roles and organizational decision-making style impact the relationship that is shared between the practitioner and the organization they represent. Based on Internet survey research methods, research findings indicated that organizational decision-making style was a minimal factor in influencing the relationship shared between the practitioner and the organization they represent. Practitioner role did, however, have a significant influence on the levels of trust, commitment, satisfaction and control mutuality between the practitioner and the organization they represent. Low response rates prevents confident generalization of the results of this study to the entire Public Relations Society of America population. Findings support the relational theory of public relations.

No / Purpose ¿ To examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the general decision making style (GDMS) questionnaire in two UK samples. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The GDMS takes the form of a self-report questionnaire which identifies five decision making styles: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous. It was administered to samples of business studies undergraduates in two UK business schools. Analyses included scale reliabilities, test-re-test reliability, and both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Findings ¿ The instrument's internal and temporal consistencies were generally sound. Consistent with earlier studies, analyses undertaken on the two samples independently were generally supportive of a five factor model of decision making style. No relationships with gender or year of study were observed.

No description available.

Police officers deal with a variety of stresses from different sources. Organizational stresses have the most effect on police officers, often more than stressful critical incidents. Previous research has indicated that over time, the mundane organizational and operational stresses of the job can result in a variety of effects from psychological to physiological, and this stress can impact police performance and public safety. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the impact of stress on the decision-making style of police officers. Police officers often make split-second decisions that can affect their life, the public, and other police officers. Therefore, this quantitative study utilized the General Decision-Making Styles, Operational Police Stress Questionnaire, and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire to measure the amount of stress police officers are experiencing and if organizational stress influenced their decision-making style. Data were collected from 150 police officers employed in Iowa, and standard multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicated that there is a relationship between operational and organizational stresses and decision-making style. The results of this study support positive social change by identifying which stressors impact a police officer's decision-making style. Early identification of police officers who are struggling with organizational stress can help reduce burnout, turnover, citizen complaints, and use of force investigations, which might help strengthen the public's trust in their police officers and police departments.

No description available.

Submitted by André Ferreira (andre.ferreira@ifba.edu.br) on 2016-05-24T15:51:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de Doutorado-André Luiz Leite Ferreira - VersãoFinal_Repositório.pdf: 6855517 bytes, checksum: ff82706d245ad5e030b03832306907f4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2016-05-25T14:46:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de Doutorado-André Luiz Leite Ferreira - VersãoFinal_Repositório.pdf: 6855517 bytes, checksum: ff82706d245ad5e030b03832306907f4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-25T14:46:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese de Doutorado-André Luiz Leite Ferreira - VersãoFinal_Repositório.pdf: 6855517 bytes, checksum: ff82706d245ad5e030b03832306907f4 (MD5) / CAPES / Esta pesquisa enfoca a influência dos estilos de tomada de decisão no processo decisório da adoção de inovações tecnológicas no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia (IFBA). A tese está embasada principalmente na teoria de difusão de inovações e na teoria das decisões. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de enfoque predominantemente qualitativo, com objetivos descritivos, constituindo-se num Estudo de Caso. Foram utilizados como procedimentos e instrumentos de coleta, a Pesquisa Documental, a Observação Sistemática e o Questionário. Neste estudo de caso, foram adotadas a proposição teórica e o uso de dados qualitativos e quantitativos como estratégias analíticas, e a construção da explanação, como técnica analítica. A análise principal dos dados foi a partir da construção da explanação com triangulação dos dados. Os resultados dessa investigação associados às teorias utilizadas indicaram a presença de características relacionadas ao conhecimento sobre inovação tecnológica no IFBA, tal como o conceito de inovação, diferenciando-o de invenção. Dentre as características percebidas de uma inovação tecnológica, a compatibilidade, experimentação, demonstração de resultado, vantagem relativa e complexidade ou facilidade de uso foram apontadas com o maior grau de importância. Ainda segundo os resultados obtidos, os gestores, servidores ocupantes das pró-reitorias e diretorias sistêmicas do IFBA, considerados nesta tese como sujeitos de pesquisa, se veem como indivíduos solucionadores e previsores de problemas, possuindo os estilos hierárquico, integrativo, comportamental e conceitual de tomada de decisão. Destaca-se ainda que dentre estes sujeitos, o reitor e os representantes das pró-reitoria institucional, pesquisa e inovação e administrativa, bem como da diretoria de gestão da tecnologia da informação foram identificados como atores que podem influenciar a adoção de inovações tecnológicas no IFBA. Analisando como estes estilos podem influenciar nesta adoção, cumprindo o objetivo geral desta pesquisa, observou-se que os gestores com estes estilos de decisão são mais suscetíveis à adoção de inovação tecnológica uma vez que, dentre outras características, aceitam o risco e tomam decisões que ajudam à organização a lidar com as incertezas, destacando-se como gestores abertos, comunicativos e que procuram entender os impactos de suas decisões. / Abstract This research focuses on the influence of the decision-making styles in decision making and adoption of technological innovations at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia (IFBA). The thesis is based mainly on the innovation diffusion theory and the theory of decisions. It is a predominantly qualitative approach to research, with descriptive goals, becoming a Case Study. They were used as procedures and collection tools, Documentary Research, the Systematic Observation and Questionnaire. In this case study, we adopted the theoretical proposition and the use of qualitative and quantitative data and analytical strategies, and the construction of the explanation, as an analytical technique. The primary analysis was based on the construction of explanation with triangulation of data. The results of this research related to the theories used indicated the presence of characteristics related with knowledge on technological innovation in the IFBA, such as the concept of innovation, differentiating it from invention. Among the perceived characteristics of a technological innovation, compatibility, trial, financial performance, relative advantage and complexity or ease of use were identified with the highest degree of importance. Also according to the results obtained, managers, occupants servers of pro-rectories and systemic directors of the IFBA, considered this thesis as a research subject, see themselves as problem individuals and forecasters problems, possessing the hierarchical styles, integrative, behavioral and conceptual of decision taking. Note also that among these subjects, the rector and representatives of institutional pro-rector, research and innovation and administrative and management board of information technology have been identified as actors who can influence the adoption of technological innovations in the IFBA. Analyzing how these styles can influence this adoption, fulfilling the objective of this research, it found that managers with these decision styles are more susceptible to the adoption of technological innovation since, among other characteristics, accept the risk and make decisions help the organization to deal with the uncertainties, especially as managers open, communicative and seeking to understand the impacts of their decisions.

The instigating pursuit to understand the human behavior, more precisely about the mechanisms involved in the decision-making process of a person, are the basic premise for the accomplishment of this study. Decisions are present in all ambits of people’s life, and the identification and understanding of the factors that can influence them have great importance. Thus, this study aimed to verify how individuals modify the decision process under time’s pressure. The reach of this objective occurred through a laboratory quasi-experiment using three different instruments to collect data. The first stage of the experiment was the choice of a notebook by using the decision support system Decisor (LÖBLER, 2005), the second stage consisted in answer the Feeling Questionnaire in Relation to the Purchase (LUCIAN, 2008) and the third one, answering the Decision Style Inventory (ROWE, 1998). The sample consisted in 178 undergraduate students, divided into 2 groups: the control group and the group submitted to time pressure. The most popular chosen notebook was Sony. It was observed the existence of prior knowledge of the brand and the use of Image Theory to explain that choice. The individual decision-making styles most found in the subjects submitted to the task were the analytical and the conceptual. The hypotheses were tested using the Mann Whitney U test and the chi-square test, however, they were unable to prove statistically the hypotheses. We suggest more studies to prove the existence of low satisfaction with choices made under time pressure. / A instigante busca pela compreensão do comportamento humano, mais precisamente sobre os mecanismos envolvidos no processo decisório dos indivíduos, consistiu na premissa básica para a realização deste estudo. As decisões estão presentes em todos os âmbitos da vida dos indivíduos sendo de grande importância a identificação e compreensão dos fatores que podem influenciá-las. Assim, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar como os indivíduos modificam o processo decisório frente à pressão do tempo. O alcance desse objetivo ocorreu por meio de um quase experimento em laboratório utilizando três diferentes instrumentos de coleta de dados. A primeira etapa do quase experimento consistiu na escolha de um notebook utilizando o sistema de apoio à decisão Decisor (LÖBLER, 2005), a segunda etapa consistiu no preenchimento do Questionário de Sentimentos em Relação à Compra (LUCIAN, 2008) e a terceira no preenchimento do Decision Style Inventory (ROWE, 1998). A amostra foi composta por 178 alunos de graduação, divididos em 2 grupos: o grupo controle e o grupo submetido à pressão do tempo. O notebook mais escolhido pelos dois grupos foi o da marca Sony, observou-se a existência de conhecimento prévio da marca quanto à decisão de compra e também o uso da Teoria da Imagem para explicar a escolha. Os estilos individuais de decisão mais encontrados nos indivíduos submetidos à tarefa foram o analítico e o conceitual. As hipóteses foram testadas através do Teste U de Mann Whitney e do teste Qui-quadrado, contudo, as respostas obtidas nos testes não permitiram comprovar as três hipóteses estatisticamente. Sugere-se a realização de estudos mais aprofundados a fim de comprovar a existência de baixa satisfação com a escolha em decisões realizadas sob pressão do tempo.

The foundation for this study is based on prior research (Sproles & Sproles, 1990) that determined that learning styles are significantly related to consumer decision-making styles. Decision making involves a process of cognitive learning. Since the study was published, other studies have investigated these consumer decision-making styles. However, no additional studies have further investigated the relationship between learning styles and consumer decision-making styles for college students, especially first-year, first semester college students. Numerous studies have documented that students enter college as consumers but may lack basic knowledge and skills to make consumer decisions and avoid potential debt. The focus of the current study was to determine whether a relationship exists between beginning college students' self-reported mind styles, consumer decision-making styles, and shopping habits. To investigate this relationship, a purposive sample was targeted consisting of first-year, first semester college students. Three instruments were administered: the Gregorc Style Delineator, the Consumer Styles Inventory, and a Demographic Survey. A Chi-Square Test of Independence showed that there is a significant relationship between gender and self-reported shopping habits. Females tend to self-report purchases of clothing more frequently than males. Males tend to self-report purchases of food away from home and gas/auto expenses more frequently than females. No significant relationship was found between students' perception of family income and self-reported shopping habits, suggesting that these students purchase consumer goods frequently regardless of their perceived family income. A Chi-Square Test of Independence also revealed a significant relationship between gender and self-reported, dominant, Gregorc mind styles. Females were more likely than males to self-report their dominant mind styles as Abstract Random. Males were more likely than females to self-report their dominant mind style as Concrete Random. Although the current study's results did not support multiple consumer decision-making styles from previous studies using the Consumer Styles Inventory, an exploratory factor analysis revealed one, overall consumer decision-making style, Recreational/Hedonistic. A Mann-Whitney Rank Sum Test showed that there is a significant relationship between gender and the Recreational/Hedonistic consumer decision-making style. Females tend to be more recreational shoppers than males. A summary, discussion of the results, and recommendations for further research, practice, policy, and families are proposed. / Ph. D.