The relationship between indecisiveness and eye movement patterns in a decision making informational search task

Abstract

Indecisiveness is a trait-related general tendency to experience decision difficulties across a variety of situations, leading to decision delay, worry, and regret. Indecisiveness is proposed (Rassin, 2007) to be associated with an increase in desire for information acquisition and reliance on compensatory strategies-as evidenced by alternative-based information search-during decision making. However existing studies provide conflicting findings. We conducted an information board study of indecisiveness, using eye tracking methodology, to test the hypotheses that the relationship between indecisiveness and choice strategy depends on being in the early stage of the decision making process, and that it depends on being in the presence of an opportunity to delay choice. We found strong evidence for the first hypothesis in that indecisive individuals changed shift behavior from the first to the second half of the task, consistent with a move from greater to lesser compensatory processing, while the shift behavior of decisive individuals suggested lesser compensatory processing over the whole task. Indecisiveness was also related to time spent viewing attributes of the selected course, and to time spent looking away from decision information. These findings resolve past discrepancies, suggest an interesting account of how the decision process unfolds for indecisive versus decisive individuals, and contribute to a better understanding of this tendency.

A test of different menu labeling presentations

“…To capture these process measures, a method that can be used in future menu labeling studies is eye tracking. Using this method, eye fixation locations and durations are recorded while individuals scan information on a screen, or in this case, a menu (Patalano, Juhasz, & Dicke, 2010). This eye tracking method simulates natural information search (Lohse & Johnson, 1996) and could capture consumers' natural ordering behavior.…”

Celebrity endorser attractiveness, visual attention, and implications for ad attitudes and brand evaluations: A replication and extension

“…Specifically, student samples may be acceptable when relationships between constructs and not absolute magnitudes are of interest for the researcher (Reynolds et al, 2003;Demirbag et al, 2010). The use of students in our research is further justified by the growing interest in understanding the new and demographically dominant generation of young consumers in emerging economies, and by the use of timeconsuming eye-tracking technology that demands smaller sample sizes in order to be economically feasible (compare Wedel and Pieters, 2000;Patalano et al, 2010). Participants did not receive remuneration for their participation in the study.…”

“…The limitations in sample size and representativeness in this research are due to timeconsuming and cost-intensive research procedures when using eye-tracking methodology. Although eye-tracking studies frequently employ small sample sizes (for example, Wedel and Pieters, 2000;Patalano et al, 2010), a larger sample would be desirable in order to gain precision in the statistical analyses and increase the generalizability of the findings. Specifically, Hair et al (2014) suggest that in order to detect an R 2 of 0.10 with a statistical power of 80 per cent at the 5 per cent significance level, a sample size of 110 is needed for PLS-SEM, which is above our sample of 81 participants in this study.…”

Simulated Attention-Tracking Methodologies: An Examination of Measurement Efficacy

“…For example, advances in eye-tracking are identified as making this methodology especially well suited to understanding shopper decision-making (Patalano, Juhasz, & Dicke, 2010), particularly in the retail setting (Harwood & Jones, 2014;Shankar et al, 2011). Chandon et al (2006, p. 6) observed that "eye-tracking data provide reliable measures of attention to stimuli in complex scenes, such as brands on a supermarket shelf."…”