Drawing on the relevant psychology literature, three procedural variables that could influence the auditors' information processing when making going concern opinion decisions were identified. These procedural variables are the decision frame, the order in which evidence is evaluated and the initial belief held by the auditor. With respect to the decision frame, it was predicted that belief revision after processing contrary information (mitigating factors) is higher for auditors who frame their initial hypothesis in terms of viability (failure). This prediction hinges on the assumption that more weight is put on disconfirmatory information than on confirmatory information, holding "information content" constant. Second, denoting P(C) as the auditors' judgment just before processing contrary information (mitigating factors), it was hypothesized that contrary information (mitigating factors) has a bigger effect on belief revision as ex ante P(C) increases (decreases). Finally with respect to the order of evaluating evidence, it was posited that recency effects occur in belief revision and that these recency effects will be manifest in the auditors' opinion decision. These predictions were tested in a field experiment using 70 experienced auditors from four Big Eight firms. Results of the experiment provided support for the predictions relating to the initial belief and the order in which evidence was evaluated. However, the predictions relating to the decision frame were not supported. Furthermore, the study indicated that auditors exhibited considerable variability in their interpretation of substantial doubt (the standard of proof in SAS 59). Whereas some auditors interpreted this requirement as the preponderance of probability, others required a substantially higher level of probability as a threshold of proof for issuing unqualified opinions. Incidentally, it was discovered that this variability was partly accounted for by auditors' firm affiliation. Implications of these results for the audit review, the standard setting process and the nature of expertise in auditing are discussed.

An information processing model was developed to describe how information used by pharmacists in providing pharmacy services is processed. The process is hypothesized to be sequential and to consist of perception, recognition, judgment, decision making and response control components which continuously interact and are influenced by memory, particularly long term memory. Information in long term memory was hypothesized to be organized according to the perceived typicality of the stimulus. A laboratory methodology using a microcomputer was developed to test the effect of typicality on three of the process components, recognition, judgment and decision making. Three groups of ten subjects were tested, practicing pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and fourth year PharmD students. For the recognition task, subjects were shown a drug name on the computer screen then asked to indicate which of two drug names, one typical and one atypical, was shown. Pharmacists' responses were most likely to be biased toward the typical drug, technicians' responses were less likely to be biased and students' responses were least likely to be biased. For the judgment task, subjects were shown a drug name and a brief description of a typical or atypical patient; subjects were asked to indicate whether the drug was likely to be appropriate therapy for the patient. Pharmacists' responses were most likely to be biased by the perceived typicality of the patient, technicians, less likely and students, least likely. The decision task was identical to the judgment task except subjects were asked to indicate whether they would dispense the prescription as written or whether they would contact the prescriber. Pharmacists' choices were most likely to be influenced by the perceived typicality of the patient, and technicians were less likely to be influenced by typicality. Students' responses appeared not to be influenced at all. When between groups comparisons were made on difference scores, only the comparison between pharmacists and students on the decision task was significant. No statistically significant differences were found on the reaction time dependent variable for any of the subject groups.

Group Decision Support System (GDSS) pre-session planning is a complex task requiring considerable expertise. GDSS pre-session planning involves the selection of group participants and GDSS tools for a subsequent computer-supported group meeting. An effective plan is required to achieve a successful meeting (success measured by the time and cost necessary to reach an outcome satisfactory to group participants). This research investigates the nature of GDSS pre-session planning and the knowledge that is applied when expert human facilitators plan for collaborative work. A model of and a prototype expert system for GDSS tool selection were developed from the documented knowledge of pres-session planning. The model and system were then revised as a result of extensive consultations with domain experts. The expert system was verified by comparing human experts' recommendations with the system's recommendations (there was no significant difference between the two sets of recommendations). The usefulness of the system was tested by comparing facilitators' and non-facilitators' (with and without the use of the expert system) recommendations with those of human experts in a 2 by 2 factorial design. Results show that facilitators and non-facilitators who use the system are better able to select the tools experts have chosen than they would have otherwise. When they are not using the system, facilitators and non-facilitators perform equally well in selecting the tools experts have judged most appropriate (both groups differ significantly from the experts' recommendations). This research contributes to knowledge of pre-session planning for GDSS sessions with a particular emphasis on the tool selection process. However, further research on the development of a complete session agenda is needed.

Current research in collective bargaining suggests the need to investigate how contracts and agreements are interpreted at school sites. Speculation about the effects of collective bargaining describe comprehensive situations and neglect the individual settings which are most critically affected. Furthermore, a need persists to reveal those aspects of "life as a principal" that are affected by collective bargaining, teacher behaviors, and interpretations and decisions that occur within this working domain. This qualitative study addressed these issues. It investigated how 15 principals, kindergarten through grade 12, in a state that lacks a comprehensive statute which neither requires nor prohibits bargaining, interpret contracts and agreements. Analysis of protocols revealed that locally negotiated arrangements influence the course of complaints and grievances. The principals in this study provided evidence indicating that collective bargaining some of these same limitations are locally negotiated between principals and teachers. This renegotiating process enabled both principals and teachers to continue in working relationships to meet the distinct needs of each school. Further research on the daily settlement of disputes, arising during the life of an agreement, would be beneficial in understanding the effects of collective bargaining.

This research aims to develop and empirically validate an approach to using managerial judgments as a basis for competitive strategy decisions. Our premise is that by using structured elicitation methods that rely on the underlying logic of competitive market structure analysis (CMSA) models (e.g., perceived competitive similarities (PS) and forced choice (FC)), it may be possible to effectively extract and organize managers' knowledge of competitive relationships. Moreover, these judgments may be primed using competitive criterial cues such as brand image, features and usage situation. Based on psychological theories, we offer hypotheses (about how managerial judgments will be influenced by different elicitation methods and priming cues) which are tested in an experiment where subjects gained experience in a simulated market with a pre-specified structure (based on overall similarity (OS) of the products). We also test for experiential learning of this structure. The findings suggest that unaided judgments did not change as a function of outcome feedback. However, structured judgments showed significant effect of both feedback and elicitation method. Initially, OS-based structure measures received high ratings, suggesting that subjects may have recognized the 'true' structure. However, with feedback, they placed greater emphasis on the usage situation-based measure which were more concrete in their extra-experimental experience. Relative to the PS method, the FC method helped subjects articulate better that the market was partitioned on the basis of OS. Also, subjects who gave FC judgments first, provided concordant judgments when given the PS method thereafter. In contrast, subjects' judgments were more susceptible to change when the method order was reversed. Thus, the FC judgments produced both more veridical and more stable perceptions of market structure. Subject to study limitations, the findings provide a basis for incorporating even partially fallible managerial judgments in CMSA tasks (and toward development of an expert system). It shows how structured methods for eliciting such judgments can be meaningfully implemented and suggests that these methods may elicit both veridical and stable judgments of competitive relationships in a market. Moreover, the study examines the convergent validity of different methods and priming cues on managerial judgment as well as its potential biases and inconsistencies.

Although organizational memory remains a relatively ill-defined construct, information systems developers seem anxious to build software that is intended to facilitate its development and use. The construct seems to consist of concepts from organizational theory, information systems design, and decision support. Decision support is one of the commonly proposed uses of organizational memory, and a common justification for efforts to build information systems to support organizational memory. Yet, the broad range of information that might be stored in and recalled from an organization's memory makes it difficult to define requirements for an automated organizational memory system. This dissertation describes the design and implementation of a laboratory experiment aimed at discovering whether information about historic decision making behavior could be useful to decision makers in organizations. Several hypotheses were tested. The first is that information about decision-making behavior from the past will lead decision makers to make better decisions in the present. Second, the experiment tested the hypothesis that historic information from an organizational (collective) source would be more helpful to decision makers than similar information from an individual source. These hypotheses were supported. Third, it was hypothesized that historic decision information, presented in the format of a linear regression model would be more helpful to decision makers than similar information in a textual format. This hypothesis was not supported. Additionally, hypotheses were tested concerning the relative benefits of collective and individual sources of historic information versus no historic information, and comparing the benefits of the regression format and textual format versus no historic information. The findings indicated that the information from a collective source provided better decision support than no historic information, but information from the individual source was not significantly superior to no historic information. Further, the information in the textual format was significantly better than no information, but the regression format was not significantly better than no historic information. In general, the findings indicate that historic decision information can lead decision makers to make better decisions, but source of information and the presentation format are important variables affecting the extent of the benefit.

Because of increasing and often conflicting and changing demands, natural resource managers must decide what products to produce, what quantity of each to produce, and how to allocate the resources to produce those products. It is a nearly impossible task for a manager to quantify, analyze, and compare all the alternatives. Decision-aiding models, such as the water basin model, provide a mechanism capable of handling extremely complex problems, while at the same time giving the resource manager a quantified basis on which to make decisions. The water basin model employs two methods of system analysis for developing optimal management plans. These two methods, linear programming and dynamic programming, are used in a hierarchial combination for comparing alternatives on water basins. The model links both on- and off-site uses of basins in a rational combination of levels. The multilevel model considers the initial condition and potential of vegetation, climate, and soils at the lowest level and proceeds through a hierarchial scheme to arrive at allocation of budgetary resources among response units and subwatersheds. For an array of basin investment levels, the guide indicates how water should be allocated among onand off-site uses using a dynamic program, how the investment should be allocated among subwatersheds using a dynamic program, and how the investment should be allocated among development alternatives on each subwatershed using a linear program. A test run of the model was made on an existing basin in northern Arizona using forage grazing as the on-site use and water for irrigation as the off-site use. Basic inventory data obtained from the Bureau of Land Management provided input for determining ecologic and hydrologic response to on-site management. The sensitivity of plans to onsite benefits from forage harvest was examined and showed that direct benefits to the federal government do not justify development expense. However, on-site development was indicated when benefits were based on the corresponding value that private firms give for grazing forage. Even though the water basin model is confined to a single objective function or goal, it provides a rational method for aiding the decision process that is necessary for the efficient and proper use of our natural resources. The model serves three useful functions: (1) provides preliminary guides for managers, (2) brings to light future research needs, and (3) provides impetus for developing better models. In the use of this model, it must be remembered that models can only serve as management tools. Models, no matter how complex and detailed, will always be abstractions of the real world on which human managers must make the final decisions.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer death among women in the United States, claiming the lives of more than 15,000 women each year. Women who receive this diagnosis must make rapid, critical medical decisions that impact survival and quality of life. Two studies were conducted to obtain pilot data related to the health preferences of ovarian cancer patients and their oncologists. Forty-one eligible patients and 34 eligible physicians participated in this study. Six hypothetical health states were developed based on possible outcomes of ovarian cancer treatment strategies. Participants were asked to rate these health states using a visual analog scale and the standard gamble chance board. A series of exploratory hypotheses were tested to obtain guidance for future research. Patients under surveillance had significantly lower preferences for all health states than patients receiving chemotherapy or physicians. Overall, patients were very consistent across health states with the level of risk they were willing to take, while physicians were significantly more likely to avoid risk when the treatment strategy presented involved improved treatment efficacy, even when associated with higher toxicity and poor emotional well being. These findings show the need for additional research and suggest that research in medical decision making must examine health choices made by patients separately, depending on their current treatment status, but not necessarily by current self-reported health status, time since diagnosis or by recurrent/non-recurrent disease.

Two studies were conducted in order to investigate the role of similarity and influence processes in groups. It was proposed that if group members believe they share one or more salient characteristics (i.e., relevant to the evaluation process) with a target it will (a) fundamentally change the way those group members orient themselves towards that target, and (b) subsequently affect the way those members contribute to the group discussion. Findings suggested that group members who were similar to a target were perceived as having contributed more novel arguments to the group discussion than those dissimilar, and high self-reported levels of communication competence significantly predicted a person's ability to generate arguments about a target. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Decision-making by hospital pharmacy directors when deciding which clinical pharmacy services to implement and/or continue to provide was assessed. Also examined was how these decision-making activities, hospital characteristics, pharmacy characteristics, and pharmacy director demographics might be associated with the number and quality of clinical pharmacy services provided, as well as the number of clinical services implemented under the current pharmacy director. Hospital pharmacy directors reported considering a relatively large number of perceived goals for a clinical service and also indicated they use a rather broad range of decision-making methodologies in evaluating those goals when determining clinical services. Numerous variables were found to be significantly associated with the number of clinical services provided by the pharmacy department and the number of clinical services implemented under the current pharmacy director. However, relatively few variables were found to be significantly related to the quality of clinical pharmacy services being provided.