EXPERIENCE AND INFORMATION SEARCH PATTERNS IN COMPLEX DECISION MAKING

This study focused on issues of information search patterns and the ways individuals use to reduce complexity of decision and form judgment on alternatives under conditions of incomplete information. The aim was to determine whether and how participants with a financial and migration experience differ from participants without this experience in acquiring and ordering information prior to choice of financial products and labor migration destination. The authors examined amount and content of information which were requested by participants in model decision tasks. Perceived expertise and experience seemed important for learning and reducing information overload. Considerable stability of preferences in decision tasks with limited and unlimited access to information was found. In pre-decisional information search dominant attributes were coming in pairs, where the first attribute related to major advantages and the second one to major costs of the potential outcomes both in financial and migration decision tasks.