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Kent, Charles Todd. "Politically rational foreign policy decision-making." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4371.
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This dissertation is an analysis of how presidents make foreign policy decisions.
Rather than explaining foreign policy decisions by focusing on individuals or
institutions, I stress the role of political pressures and context faced by presidents. It
shows that foreign policy decisions are not merely a reaction to stimulus from the
international or domestic arenas but involve political considerations that affect policy
choice.
The dynamic elements in the argument are political resources and risk. The
relationship between the risk propensity of the president and presidential political
resources provides an important link to understanding foreign policy decisions. Within
the realm of good public policy, a politically rational president can choose to act or
respond to foreign policy disputes in various ways, including diplomacy, political
coercion, economic coercion, covert action, or military intervention, based on his
assessment of the political context and his willingness to accept the associated risks.
The level of presidential political resources determines the risk propensity of the
president. Presidential foreign policy decisions will vary depending on the quantity of available political resources. Thus, understanding the risk propensity of the president
increases our ability to explain foreign policy decisions.
The contribution of this research is the identification of a mechanism for
understanding how the interaction between the domestic and international political
environments, and individual decision-makers influence foreign policy decisions. My
research bridges the gap between structural theories, âÂÂtheories that make predictions
about foreign policy outcomes without reference to the cognition and actions of the
actors themselves,â and decision-making theories that stress the role of the actors
(Ikenberry 2002, 5). Although the component parts of the foreign policy decisionmaking
system are widely known, we lack theories that tie the pieces together.
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Steele, Rachael Helen. "Deciding on crime? : rational vs. non-rational elements in offender decision making." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.569518.
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This study examines the applicability of Rational Choice Theories of offending to offenders' actual offending experiences. The Rational Choice theoretical perspective is premised on the idea of the offender as a reasoning, decision-making individual who weighs up potential costs and benefits of a crime to achieve maximum utility. This approach to crime has been influential as part of the dominant ethos of the contemporary Criminal Justice system in England and Wales, and indeed the justice systems of most Western societies. This study relates the Rational Choice Theories of crime to individual offender experiences to investigate if such a process as a decision making calculus can be said to exist within the experience of offending individuals and if so, to explore any factors identified as affecting these decisions. Previous literature in the application of Rational Choice Theory to crime is reviewed, in particular the previous research that entailed interviews or direct observation of individuals concerning what happens when he or she is about to commit a crime. However the number of relevant studies undertaken with a sample of actual offenders rather than a student or other non offending population is small. Previous studies of this kind have tended to focus on a particular offence type, utilising for example all burglar or all shoplifter samples, and therefore results and conclusions reached by these studies can be difficult to generalise to other offence types, though there is some overlap in findings. Within the present study, in depth interviews were conduced with 46 offenders with a range of offending experiences. In this way, the study aimed to assess the applicability of the Rational Choice Theories to a range of offending decisions, bringing together different offences from shoplifting to violent assault. Women were deliberately oversampled relative to the percentage of women in the offending population in order to ensure a balanced viewpoint on decision making. In using a diverse sample group it was proposed that the concepts and ideas emerging from the diverse group could contribute to further development of the Rational Choice approach to crime. To support this theoretical development interview narrative was analysed using techniques adapted from Grounded Theory in order to identify the themes and concepts introduced by the offending individuals in relation to their experiences. In addition to the interviews, focus groups were conducted with a separate cohort of offenders and a cohort of experienced members of Probation Service staff in order to examine the prevalence of the themes emerging from the interviews. Offender narrative was also checked against an independent overview of the offending incident in question to establish the level of accuracy in terms of the observable facts of the offence. The results of this research suggest that there is some evidence that some offenders engage in a decision making processes prior to an offence, though evidence of rationality can be seen to vary both within and between individuals and within and between offence types. Where a decision making calculus was observed, several themes emerged from the narrative, including the bias towards focusing thought on potential positive outcomes, the relative lesser weighting of potential negative outcomes in the thought process, and the relative importance of informal sanctions over formal sanctions. The impact of alcohol and drugs was another emerging theme, with offenders describing their substance use as both an inhibiter, and enabler to their thinking processes. Further, an overarching theme to emerge was the evidence for two goal-regulation type processes identified by the offenders as the main motivator of their behaviour. The first of these is the desire to achieve a want or need through the commission of an offence, which tended to be associated with acquisitive category offences (shoplifting, burglary etc) and the second being to avoid or gain relief from an unpleasant affective state or situation, which tended to be associated with affective or expressive offences. However, despite these process -offence type associations there were once again variances observed within individuals and within offence types. That is, an individual could be seen as offending based on both goal types at different times, and even offence types that appear similar can be a result of different goal seeking processes. Suggestions are made as to how the findings and conclusions of this study fit with, and allow development of existing Rational Choice approaches to crime, and advocate the use of the developed Rational Choice Approach as a tool for the study of individual thinking in the period surrounding an offence. A 'Decision Structure' model based on this developed Rational Choice approach is described, with emphasis on the personal, social and motivational factors present at the time of the offence, providing a framework for exploring the offending decision. Implications of this 'Decision Structure' model on the study of offending and on working with offenders are suggested, and ideas for further studies are presented.
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Nilsson, Edward. "Rational decision making. : Differences between managers and entrepreneurs." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-33606.
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Luck, Christopher. "Intuitive and rational approaches to decision making in education." Thesis, University of Hull, 2009. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:5749.
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The key question that this research focuses on is: How do head teachers make decisions? In addition, there are a range of sub questions that are worthy of consideration within the remit of this study. What strategies do head teachers use in making decisions? How do factors such as accountability, metrics, complexity and uncertainty affect decision making? What is the impact of experience on decision making? Does increased accountability lead to a greater choice of rational or intuitive decision making strategies? To what extent do head teachers rely on their "gut feelings" in making decisions? What mix of rational and intuitive strategies do head teachers use in making decisions and do head teachers make use of their staff to explore different perceptions and frames? In considering what is the best research approach to answer these questions, reference can be made to a new branch of research known as Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) which has arisen over the past fifteen years. The proponents of NDM have questioned both the application and validity of the rational methods. One of the major proponents of this approach is Gary Klein who has undertaken research into decision making within a wide range of professional domains such as fire fighting, health and the armed forces. His research (1999) suggests that, in real life situations, experts employ a range of strategies very different from the oft espoused rational models of decision making. Instead they habitually use strategies that rely very heavily on domain specific knowledge developed through extensive experience. They do not involve the generation of alternative options but rather use perception and mental simulations, for example, as tools for decision making. The decision making strategies that experts employ mark them out from novices and can perhaps give us an insight into the acquisition of expertise. In this thesis the application of NDM to the work of primary head teachers will be considered. In chapter one the relationship between education leadership, accountability and decision making will be explored making reference to the many changes that have influenced and created the current educational context. The extent to which decision making strategies may be influenced by the context in which they are made will also be considered. In chapter two an overview of theoretical approaches to decision making will be provided, drawing out the many distinctions between rationalistic methods and what can be termed "intuitive" methods such as those "discovered" by NDM. The relationship and tension between rationalistic and intuitive approaches to decision making will be considered. This will involve exploring the well worn battleground between these two age old competing ideologies within Western civilisation: "Traditionally, two forms of cognition analysis and intuition have been distinguished. This sharp dichotomy was made early; indeed, it is as old as the history of thought. Plato, Aristotle, Hume, and Kant all recognized that the difference between the two forms of cognition is fundamental. Even today, almost every study of human judgment employs these concepts, implicitly or explicitly" (Hammond, 1996, p.60). A definition of "intuitive" and "rational" will be provided in this chapter and will be used throughout the thesis to highlight the differences between these two approaches. Chapter three will give a detailed account and critique of the work of Gary Klein discussing the model of decision making he has developed and his ideas on recognition, mental simulations, stories, decisions within teams and decision making mistakes. Chapters four and five will consider research methodology and the practical application of research to this thesis. Details of how the research was conducted, head teachers recruited and interviewed and basic data analysis will be described. Chapter six will provide a quantitative analysis of the interview data to provide the reader with a context for understanding and judging the research findings. Chapter seven is at the heart of this research project. Here the qualitative analysis of the research data will be outlined using substantial quotations from the interview transcripts to enhance credibility and ensure that the findings are truly grounded in the research evidence. Issues such as accountability, working with staff and, most importantly, head teachers' preferred decision making styles will be discussed and illuminated. Chapter eight will then summarise the main findings of the research and discuss possible implications arising from the findings including a description of decision making to aid our understanding of this subject. A postscript will retrospectively consider the work of Klein in the light of this research as well as provide a reflection on the research process.
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Monk, Derek. "Investment in training : a matter for rational decision making?" Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2002. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/1740/.
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Vocational training has attracted increasing attention over the past two decades both in theoretical and policy terms. This study set out to raise questions about the management of such training. Evidence from previous work suggests that policy makers responsible for training are faced with exogenous forces that make decision making prone to irrational choices. This study attempts to fill the gap in research on post entry screening by examining a series of longitudinal data. The approach has been through the use of interviews with trainees from selected industries (British Gas, the football industry and the provision of a public library service). Between them, these industries represent a large cross section of the British economy. British Gas is an example of a former nationalised industry that has been subsequently privatised. By contrast, the football industry is(and always has been) in private "hands". Finally, this study examined the provision of ICT training given to public library service personnel in both the UK and Finland. The aim, in all cases, was to assess whether resources devoted to training were used efficiently. A second aim was to locate the findings in the context of a debate between the neoclassical school of economic analysis and its institutional rival, especially Internal Labour Market theory. The evidence suggests that institutional theory explains post entry progression better than its neoclassical rival. Furthermore, the research also concludes that managers charged with the task of implementing training schemes frequently do not evaluate them and as a consequence, the stated aims of organisations' training strategies are not realised. This situation is likely to continue unless more thought is given to the issue of monitoring training carefully both at a micro and macro level. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that industry-wide (or macroeconomic) policies designed to increase employees' skills do not necessarily result in the desired gains at a local (or microeconomic) level.
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Pengelly, M. "Principled decision-making for tutoring : a rational construction of planning and decision-making from instructional principles." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.235986.
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Holmes, Mark Edward, and n/a. "Fraud against governments in Australia : reviewing rational and political decision making processes." University of Canberra. Administrative Studies, 1993. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060725.150531.
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Steer, Mark D. "Rational decision-making : the consequences of following simple learning rules." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.442209.
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Ngangoue, Kathleen Maryse. "Decision-Making in Markets." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/18653.
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Diese Dissertation erforscht, auf welchen unterschiedlichen Wegen Informationsverarbeitung Investitionsentscheidungen beeinflusst. Auf der Basis kontrollierter Laborexperimente wird untersucht, wie Entscheidungen mit der Art der Information sowie mit dem Entscheidungskontext variieren. Im ersten Kapitel legt ein Experiment die Schwierigkeit mit hypothetischem Denken bzw. mit dem Lernen aus hypothetischen Ereignissen offen. Im Kapitel Zwei untersucht ein anderes Experiment, wie Informationsverarbeitung die Reaktionen der Investoren auf Ambiguität verändert, denn ein eindeutiges, optimales Lernverhalten gibt es unter Ambiguität nicht. Das letzte Kapitel stellt anhand desselben Experiments die Unabhängigkeit zwischen dem Lernprozess und den Risikopräferenzen in Frage.This dissertation investigates various channels through which information processing affects investment decisions. Controlled laboratory experiments allow for studying how subjects’ decisions vary with the type of information and the decision-context. The experiment in the first chapter discloses the difficulty with contingent reasoning, i.e. learning from hypothetical events. A different experiment in Chapter Two analyzes how information processing changes investors’ reactions to ambiguity—an environment with multiple rational learning rules. Using the same experiment, the last chapter questions the independence between belief updating and risk preferences.
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Kotelba, A. (Adrian). "Theory of rational decision-making and its applications to adaptive transmission." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2013. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526202044.
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Abstract In this thesis, adaptive transmission power control algorithms for reliable communication in channels with state are explored and further developed. In channels with state, strict adherence to Shannon-sense capacity may lead to very conservative system designs. In many practical systems, error-free communication is not required because these systems can cope with decoding errors. These considerations give rise to other information-theoretic notions where the rate of reliable communications is considered a random variable which depends not only on the statistical properties of the channel but also on the adaptive transmission strategy. Numerous studies on adaptive transmission in channels with state have already been conducted using expected value of communication rate or information outage probability as the relevant performance metrics. However, these metrics, although intuitively pleasing, have usually been introduced without rigorous justification. This thesis contributes to the state of the art in a number of ways. These include the development of new conceptual viewpoints on performance assessment of adaptive communication systems in channels with state as well as a new set of adaptive transmission power control algorithms. In particular, the models and methods of rational decision theory are introduced and systematically used in developing a unified framework for analysis and optimization of adaptive transmission in channels with state. The proposed framework properly addresses the limitation of finite coding length, takes into account the decision maker's preferences, considers uncertainties relevant in a given decision, and determines the optimal decision by maximizing some numerical index. A central finding of the theoretical studies is that many of the previously proposed performance metrics can be rigorously justified within the newly proposed framework. In addition, adaptive transmission power control in parallel Gaussian channels is considered with the aim of obtaining new classes of algorithms. The safety-first approach, risk theory, and expected utility theory are applied to derive novel transmission power control algorithms. The performance of the proposed power control algorithms is evaluated by computer simulations and compared against the performance of some other well-known algorithmsTiivistelmä Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan ja kehitetään edelleen adaptiivisia lähettimen tehonsäätöalgoritmeja luotettavaan tietoliikenteeseen kanavissa, joilla on tila. Tällaisissa kanavissa Shannonin määrittelemän kapasiteetin tiukka noudattaminen saattaa johtaa konservatiivisiin järjestelmiin. Monissa käytännön järjestelmissä virheetöntä tiedonsiirtoa ei vaadita, koska niissä voidaan helposti selviytyä dekoodausvirheistä. Nämä pohdinnat johtavat toisenlaisiin informaatioteoreettisiin näkökulmiin, joissa luotettavan tietoliikenteen nopeutta pidetään satunnaismuuttujana, joka ei riipu ainoastaan kanavan tilastollisista ominaisuuksista vaan myös adaptiivisesta lähetysstrategiasta. Adaptiivisesta siirrosta kanavissa, joilla on tila, on jo tehty lukuisia tutkimuksia käyttäen tietoliikennenopeuden odotusarvoa tai informaation katkostodennäköisyyttä asiaankuuluvina suorituskykymittareina. Näitä mittareita on käytetty tavallisesti ilman tarkkaa perustelua, vaikka ne ovat intuitiivisesti houkuttelevia. Tämä väitöskirja tuottaa uusia tuloksia alan kehityksen nykytasoon monella tavalla. Näihin kuuluvat uudet käsitteelliset näkökulmat adaptiivisten tietoliikennejärjestelmien suorituskyvyn arviointiin kanavissa, joilla on tila, sekä uusi joukko adaptiivisia tehonsäätöalgoritmeja. Erityisesti rationaalisen päätöksenteon malleja ja menetelmiä on otettu käyttöön systemaattisesti kehitettäessä yhtenäistä puitetta adaptiivisen siirron analyysiin ja optimointiin kanavissa, joilla on tila. Ehdotettu puite arvioi asianmukaisesti äärellisen koodauspituuden rajoitusta, ottaa huomioon päätöksentekijän mieltymykset, tarkastelee määrättyyn päätökseen liittyviä oleellisia epävarmuuksia ja määrittää optimaalisen päätöksen maksimoimalla jonkin numeerisen päätösmuuttujan. Keskeinen löytö on se, että monet aikaisemmin ehdotetut suorituskykymittarit voidaan perustella tarkasti uuden, tässä ehdotetun puitteen sisällä. Lisäksi tarkastellaan adaptiivista lähettimen tehonsäätöä rinnakkaisissa Gaussin jakaumaa noudattavissa kanavissa. Tavoitteena on saada aikaan uusia lähettimen tehonsäätöalgoritmien luokkia. Turvallisuus ensin -lähestymistapaa, riskiteoriaa ja odotetun hyödyn teoriaa sovelletaan uusien lähettimen tehonsäätöalgoritmien johtamiseen. Ehdotettujen tehonsäätöalgoritmien suorituskykyä on mitattu tietokonesimuloinneilla ja verrattu joidenkin muiden hyvin tunnettujen algoritmien suorituskykyyn
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Bryan, Lona. "A Limited Rational Choice Theory in Local Public Health Decision Making." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5542.
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The threat and occurrence of terrorist attacks have increased in the United States since September 2011, heightening concerns for weaponized anthrax, other biological pathogens, and epidemics and pandemics. Early decisions and funding levels in local public health agencies can be the first line of defense or first point of failure; yet little is understood about how decisions are made when there are budget cuts before a biological event happens. Using Lindblom's conceptualization of limited rational choice theory, the purpose of this single case study was to understand how a local public health official made decisions after budget cuts in a single public health entity in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. Data were collected through an interview with 1 public health official and publicly available plans, procedures, and funding documents. These data were inductively coded and then subjected to Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis procedure. Findings indicated that the public health agency's ability to make the best decisions were negatively impacted by limited resources, though adequate planning before a catastrophic event, active and continual communication with stakeholders, and clarity about financial and resource needs can partially offset the impact of budgetary reductions. The implications for social change include recommendations to anticipate and address the needs of the public health system through decision making to protect the health care community and the reduction or elimination of the spread of disease in the wake of a biological incident.
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Thompson, Stephanie C. "Rational design theory: a decision-based foundation for studying design methods." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/39490.
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While design theories provide a foundation for representing and reasoning about design methods, existing design theories do not explicitly include uncertainty considerations or recognize tradeoffs between the design artifact and the design process. These limitations prevent the existing theories from adequately describing and explaining observed or proposed design methods.
In this thesis, Rational Design Theory is introduced as a normative theoretical framework for evaluating prescriptive design methods. This new theory is based on a two-level perspective of design decisions in which the interactions between the artifact and the design process decisions are considered. Rational Design Theory consists of normative decision theory applied to design process decisions, and is complemented by a decision-theory-inspired conceptual model of design.
The application of decision analysis to design process decisions provides a structured framework for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of design methods. The qualitative evaluation capabilities are demonstrated in a review of the systematic design method of Pahl and Beitz. The quantitative evaluation capabilities are demonstrated in two example problems. In these two quantitative examples, Value of Information analysis is investigated as a strategy for deciding when to perform an analysis to gather additional information in support of a choice between two design concepts. Both quantitative examples demonstrate that Value of Information achieves very good results when compared to a more comprehensive decision analysis that allows for a sequence of analyses to be performed.
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Taiwo, Kehinde Olayinka. "Organizational Decision-Making Through Employee Diversity." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7759.
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The global nature of today's business environment, coupled with technological advances, compels managers to work with an increasingly diverse workforce worldwide. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore how bank managers used employee diversity effectively in the organizational decision-making process. Participants were 10 frontline management staff (middle and executive managers) with the required employee engagement skills involved in the decision-making process of a Nigerian bank. The conceptual framework for this study was rational choice theory, also called rational action theory or choice theory. Participants responded to 8 open-ended semistructured interview questions. The data collection process included validating and triangulating information gathered via member checking and review of archival business documents and peer-reviewed journals. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data from the study. Five key themes emerged from data analysis: recruitment, retention, and improvement of diverse talents; education and integration of employees with a divergent institutional heritage; engagement and leveraging of diverse stakeholders; business innovation, and productivity; and decision-making, and profitability. The implications of this study for social change include employee diversity management and strategic practices that contribute to effective decision-making process in the organization to improve socio-economic development of stakeholders (customers, board of directors, employees, policymakers and business contractors) and promote cohesion within bank staff and stakeholders resulting to improved business relationship and tolerance in society.
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Huang, Tori Yu-wen. "Intuition and emotion : examining two non-rational approaches in complex decision making." Thesis, City University London, 2012. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/2073/.
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This thesis was designed to examine two non-rational decision approaches in individual and team decision making. In Chapter 2 (Paper 1), a normative theory about how people should use intuition in making complex decisions is proposed. I draw from extant literature to derive why allowing intuition to interrupt analysis is beneficial to complex decision processes. In Chapter 3 (Paper 2), the theory of intuitive interruptions is applied to the entrepreneurial context. I argue that allowing intuitions to interrupt analysis helps entrepreneurs navigate the ambiguous environment in which they often find themselves. Chapter 4 (Paper 3) documents findings on the phenomenon of teams’ escalation of commitment and the effect of hope. According to the results, when faced with continuous negative feedback, teams that remain hopeful persist in the face of mounting costs. In Chapter 5 (Paper 4), changes in self-efficacy and team efficacy beliefs as responses to performance feedback were examined. The results indicated that the relationship between negative feedback and a decrease in efficacy beliefs is mediated by depressive realism—the negative yet realistic expectations of future outcomes. In summary, this thesis finds that non-rational approaches facilitate decision making by filling in the gaps, colouring the tone and changing the course of thinking where exhaustive information processing (i.e., full analysis) is not possible. Employing non-rational approaches can either be a deliberate choice or a reaction of human nature. Employing non-rational approaches does not necessarily yield favourable or unfavourable results. However, the analysis confirms that non-rational approaches are largely involved in complex decision making. Findings from this thesis add to our knowledge about how complex decisions are made by individuals and teams.
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Cao, Cung Economics Australian School of Business UNSW. "Asymmetric and imperfect knowledge: a proposal to replace unbounded rationality with bounded rationality." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Economics, 2007. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/27025.
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The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate how the role of knowledge may be the missing link in economics and to argue that the assumption of unbounded rationality, which underpinned neoclassical economics, should be replaced by bounded rationality and that bounded rationality should be redefined as people are rational, but are constrained by asymmetric and imperfect knowledge. This decomposition of bounded rationality makes it possible for us to operationalize bounded rationality, which was founded by Herbert Simon in the 1950s, but has not been widely adopted in economics because the concept was considered too difficult to formalize. The inclusion of asymmetric and imperfect knowledge considerations in microeconomics provides new insights into the existence and boundaries of firms, the role and nature of institutions, financial market inefficiency and political choices. The inclusion of asymmetric knowledge considerations in macroeconomics can help explain the unequal distribution of wealth between individuals, firms and nations. A lack of knowledge, and the difficulties in overcoming a lack of knowledge, can help to explain aspects of economic fluctuations, prices rigidities, monetary non-neutrality and unemployment. Most importantly, when the role of knowledge is considered, it provides better explanations to various anomalies in economics, helps reconciles differences between various theories and may opens up the possibility of unifying various schools of economic thought.
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Bei, Zhou. "Comparison of decision styles of business managers in two international companies within a rational decision-making context." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/986.
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Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, 2006The purpose of this study is to compare the decision styles of business managers in China with those in South Africa, taking cognisance of certain variables such as nationality, gender, and occupational group within a particular homogeneous industry. The first consideration was to conduct on international comparison and compare the similarities and differences of decision styles within a rational decision-making context. The second consideration was to investigate whether decision styles vary between the variables identified above. The survey was conducted in two companies, namely South African Breweries Limited and Tsingtao Co., Ltd who conduct business in South Africa and China, respectively. The research population comprised of 180 business managers in both companies. The research study revealed that there is no significant difference of decision styles between the business managers in both companies. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that the business managers in South African Breweries Limited and Tsingtao Co., Ltd have considerable flexibility and find little difficulty in changing from one style to another as the situation warrants. This conclusion is supported by the findings submitted by Rowe and Boulgarides in their seminal work published in 1992.
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Tong, Ching Hua. "Social networks and dynamic interaction among imperfectly rational agents /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p9812498.
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Davies, Gregory Bryn. "Pure risk : the role of rational and behavioural risk attitudes in decision making." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.423920.
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Biddulph, Sonnette. "Guiding principles in rational and intuitive strategic decision making at a chemicals business." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/52325.
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In the current complex and volatile macroeconomic business environment it has become important to understand the relative value of and interaction between rational and intuitive decision-making processes and the principles applied by leaders in making strategic choices. This research explored the prevalent decision-making processing styles and guiding principles applied by C-suite executives and senior managers in strategic decision making.Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
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Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
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Söderlund, Artur, and Joakim Eriksson. "Financial Literacy & Rational Financial Decision Making : a study of university students in Sweden." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-172998.
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The importance of a high level of financial literacy and skills in the area of personal finance is of constant relevance, especially for young people and students. This research aims to determine if there are differences between the students at the different faculties at Umeå University concerning financial literacy and rational financial decision making. This will be done based on a framework consisting of previous studies and research concerning financial literacy, utility and rationality. A quantitative study was made by gathering data through an online survey. Two comparisons were made between the reference group Business Administration students, and each of the four faculties. The first comparison concerned financial literacy and the second one concerned rational financial decision making. The results show that the reference group have a higher financial literacy but at the same time, they are not different concerning rational financial decision making. The study further investigated the relationship between financial literacy and rational financial decision making. A correlation test was carried out on these two variables and the results showed that they were independent of each other.
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Liu, Guanyu, and Yan Song. "The Interplay of Rationality and Intuition in Strategic Decision Making." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-69743.
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BACKGROUND: When it comes to corporate decision making, the traditional rational model suggests that deliberative analysis yields good results. Thus, when contemplating strategic moves, executives are “required” to conduct deliberative analyses. As today’s business environment is becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced, however, executives often face the dilemma of having to make carefully considered strategic decisions on the one hand and not having enough time on the other hand. Intuition offers an efficient solution in this situation. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate how corporate executives employ both rationality and intuition in making strategic decisions under uncertain, complex and time-pressured circumstances. RESEARCH METHOD: We conducted three face-to-face interviews with executives from three companies in Sweden. Each interview lasted around one hour. RESULTS: Drawing on previous psychological and managerial research, we argue that rationality and intuition are better viewed as being complementary rather than separate. Findings from the study suggest that intuition could serve as an effective and efficient means for managers to make strategic decisions; and that intuition indeed plays a role in strategic decision making under complex, uncertain and time limited contexts.
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Tolar, Martin, of Western Sydney Macarthur University, and Faculty of Business and Technology. "Satisficing versus optimising behaviour in the non-durable consumption expenditure decision making process." THESIS_FBT_XXX_Tolar_M.xml, 1995. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/108.
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The new classical school's dominance of mainstream economic thought in recent years has brought with it the associated adoption of rational economic agents ( in the Muthian sense) by mainstream economists. This thesis challenges this underlying assumption of human behaviour in the context of the non-durable consumption expenditure decision making process. In doing so, our attention will be placed upon the weak or more general form of the hypothesis, which has come to be known as optimisation. We employ a behavioural methodology in an attempt to ascertain if individuals adhere to the optimising or satisficing model of human behaviour. In doing so time will be spent examining the bounded rationality hypothesis. We also employ a behavioural methodology in producing a non-durable consumption function that is econometrically comparable with an optimising model of non-durable consumption expenditure (namely the permanent income rational expectations hypothesis). The micro results produced in this thesis suggest that the respondents surveyed from non-durable consumption expenditure decisions that are sub-optimal in nature. The formation of these sub-tropical expenditure decisions appear to be a consequence of the cognitive constraints faced by our respondents, which in turn provides empirical support for the bounded rationality hypothesis. On a macro level, our behavioural consumption function generates results that are comparable with those produced by the optimising model employed in this thesis. Our results also question the rational expectations permanent income hypothesis (as it is usually applied), despite making adjustments to the model which remove the underlying assumption of known, constant real interest useMaster of Commerce (Hons)
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Sotnik, Garry. "SOSIEL: a Cognitive, Multi-Agent, and Knowledge-Based Platform for Modeling Boundedly-Rational Decision-Making." PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4239.
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Decision-related activities, such as bottom-up and top-down policy development, analysis, and planning, stand to benefit from the development and application of computer-based models that are capable of representing spatiotemporal social human behavior in local contexts. This is especially the case with our efforts to understand and search for ways to mitigate the context-specific effects of climate change, in which case such models need to include interacting social and ecological components. The development and application of such models has been significantly hindered by the challenges in designing artificial agents whose behavior is grounded in both empirical evidence and theory and in testing the ability of artificial agents to represent the behavior of real-world decision-makers. This dissertation advances our ability to develop such models by overcoming these challenges through the creation of: (a) three new frameworks, (b) two new methods, and (c) two new open-source modeling tools. The three new frameworks include: (a) the SOSIEL framework, which provides a theoretically-grounded blueprint for the development of a new generation of cognitive, multi-agent, and knowledge-based models that consist of agents empowered with cognitive architectures; (b) a new framework for analyzing the bounded rationality of decision-makers, which offers insight into and facilitates the analysis of the relationship between a decision situation and a decision-maker's decision; and (c) a new framework for analyzing the doubly-bounded rationality (DBR) of artificial agents, which does the same for the relationship between a decision situation and an artificial agent's decision. The two new methods include: (a) the SOSIEL method for acquiring and operationalizing decision-making knowledge, which advances our ability to acquire, process, and represent decision-making knowledge for cognitive, multi-agent, and knowledge-based models; and (b) the DBR method for testing the ability of artificial agents to represent human decision-making. The two open-source modeling tools include: (a) the SOSIEL platform, which is a cognitive, multi-agent, and knowledge-based platform for simulating human decision-making; and (b) an application of the platform as the SOSIEL Human Extension (SHE) to an existing forest-climate change model, called LANDIS-II, allowing for the analysis of co-evolutionary human-forest-climate interactions. To provide a context for examples and also guidelines for knowledge acquisition, the dissertation includes a case study of social-ecological interactions in an area of the Ukrainian Carpathians where LANDIS-II with SHE are currently being applied. As a result, this dissertation advances science by: (a) providing a theoretical foundation for and demonstrating the implementation of a next generation of models that are cognitive, multi-agent, and knowledge-based; and (b) providing a new perspective for understanding, analyzing, and testing the ability of artificial agents to represent human decision-making that is rooted in psychology.
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Nobel, Johan. "Decision-making in the inductive mode : The role of human behavior." Thesis, KTH, Entreprenörskap och Innovation, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-134385.
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Economists have convulsively maintained the assumption that humans are able to arrive at decisions by perfect deductive rationality, despite the fact empirical evidences are showing otherwise. The contradicting evidences have resulted in a personal view that instead of finding a unified theory about decision-making, a sound approach would be to study how humans in fact are reasoning in specific contexts. The context of interest for this paper is where it could be assumed humans’ persistence of acting rational is determined by the perceived burden of the problem. In this work, the inductive way of arriving at decisions plays an important role, and the paper will present a way of describing this process in a consistent way. The process will be denoted as the actual level of behavioral change, and represent the core property of this paper. Applying the presented theory is most appropriate for situations where it could be assumed the burden of a problem, expressed as a prevalence rate, will drive the behavioral change. The line of reasoning in this paper will therefore be applied to the important arena of fighting the spread of HIV.
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Newitt, Christopher Scott. "An intuitive turn : understanding the roles of rational and intuitive processes in moral decision-making." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/13389.
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The relative contribution of reason and intuition to everyday moral decision-making is an issue that predates psychology as a distinct academic discipline. In the past several years this debate has become one of the most contentious issues in the social sciences. Although most researchers now accept that intuition plays some role in everyday moral decision-making, there is little conceptual agreement on what processes shape moral intuition. To date there have been no attempts to demonstrate convergent validity between competing measures of moral intuition. The goals of this project are to examine the convergent validity demonstrated by measures of moral intuition and to examine whether the concept of moral autonomy is a useful framework for understanding individual differences in the propensity to rely on intuition or reason when making moral decisions. This project comprises a series of three studies. Study 1 examines the relation between moral autonomy, general cognitive styles, and performance on a causal deviance task which taps intuitive judgments. Study 2
represents the first step in the search for convergent validity among measures of moral
intuition; responses from the causal deviance task and the moral dumbfounding task are compared. In Study 3, two new measures of moral intuition are introduced and compared with existing measures. The results of this project suggest that the conceptualization of moral intuition differs significantly across theoretical perspectives and, as such, there is little
convergent validity between measures derived from the heuristics-and-biases tradition and
those from the sentimentalist tradition. A richer conception of intuition, one that captures the distinction between affective appraisals and decisions arrived at without conscious deliberation, offers the potential to bridge theoretical differences. This project represents the first attempt to demonstrate convergent validity between opposing theoretical conceptualizations of moral intuition. The lack of agreement between these theoretical approaches highlights the need to take a more conceptually rich view of intuition. Intuition is not simply an error, as suggested by the heuristics-and-biases approach, nor is it simply an affective response, as suggested by sentimentalists; rather, intuition is a concept characterized by non-inferential, non-deliberative understanding.
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Fleischmann, Marvin [Verfasser]. "Consumer Selection and Use of Software - Empirical Studies on Non-Rational Decision Making / Marvin Fleischmann." Berlin : epubli, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1122388578/34.
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James, Kayon K. "Nuclear Risk and Rationality: Reevaluating Rational Decision Making through the Lens of Tohoku’s Nuclear Evacuees." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1029.
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The purpose of this paper is the examination of previous STS-based frameworks for rational risk evaluation and the role of Fukushima residents as co-creators of new technical codes in safety and risk. To accomplish this task, the causes of nuclear refugees’ uncertainty and distrust towards the industry and the applicability of frameworks for scientific proceduralism and democratic rationalization by Kristin Shrader-Frechette and Andrew Feenberg to this issue will be discussed.
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Brown, Bobbie. "Influences and Experiences of City Council Members on Environmental Policy Decision Making." ScholarWorks, 2014. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/53.
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Ineffective environmental policies pose a problem for municipalities as they strive to create sustainable communities. Improving these policies may establish standard practices that assist municipalities in meeting related environmental goals. Statistics show the municipalities within this study operate at different levels of goal achievement. Little is known, however, about the influences that directly affect the development of environmental policies. The purpose of this study was to determine the ways in which public officials address environmental issues and the factors considered in policy discussions that lead to their decisions. The theoretical framework comprised Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith's advocacy coalition and Arrow's rational choice theory. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of city council members within a region of 10 cities in southern California. Interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 5 city council members from 4 adjoining cities, 1 city staff member, and 1 agency representative with knowledge of all 10 cities. Data were analyzed with 3 cycles of coding to identify themes and patterns. Emergent themes included meeting community needs, educating the public, being fiscally responsible, and "doing the right thing." Participants recognized the effect of their personal influences and biases, particularly religious beliefs, on environmental policy decisions, although political affiliation appeared to be unrelated to these biases. The implications for positive social change include informing and educating both public officials and community members about regional environmental issues and their related community needs and goals.
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Andersson, Tobias. "Rationality in educational choice : A study on decision-making and risk-taking in academic settings." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-298200.
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Choices made in highly uncertain settings problematise the concept of rationality in decisions-making. Notably, educational choices are conducted on uncertain ground as future prospects in labour markets are always risky. Educational choices should also correspond to values of self-actualisation – derived from ideologies of High modernity (individualisation) –which in turn makes the decision even harder. Many studies have researched risk-taking and economic risk assessments in educational choices. Studies have also shown the effects of individualisation and capitalisation in modern societies. However, few studies on education take both economic and self-developing values into consideration, and even fewer examine the rationality in self-actualisation. This dissertation analyses rationality derived from social circumstances – in this case academia – in order to explain how students make their educational decisions and how they are affected by academic settings during their studies. To investigate this, a survey was constructed and sent to students. Statistical (correlation; group comparisons) and qualitative content analysis was used to interpret the data. The findings suggest that rationality in educational decisions mainly derives from self-interest, but also that academic settings promote this approach. This implicates that uncertainty is dealt with in social environments, and that rationality is essentially a social construction built and harboured within institutional settings.
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Watts, Vivienne J. "Child protection in schools: Advancing teachers from intuitive to rational thinking in child protection decision making." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1997. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36562/1/36562_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.
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The number of notifications of child abuse is increasing rapidly so that, if the present trend continues, Australian child protection services will receive over half a million notifications of suspected child abuse in the year 2007, ten years hence. This trend has implications for teachers who contact children on a daily basis. Teachers have a duty of care for the children who are compelled to attend school, yet teachers currently have a poor record of reporting. The current preparation of Australian teachers for. participation in child protection is inconsistent with mandatory reporting requirements and inadequate for teachers' child protection role.
It was assumed that the aim of child protection training should be to improve teachers' child protection decision making, consequently, the purpose of the present study was to illuminate and analyse preservice teachers' child protection decision making at the point of entry to their preservice course. In so doing, the study focused specifically on the nature of participants' knowledge, beliefs, perceptions and experiences likely to influence their child protection decisions.
The literature was reviewed for the purpose of identifying existing child protection programs and factors known to inhibit or enhance teachers' decisions to report suspected abuse. Since the purpose of the study was to understand and illuminate participants' subjective knowledge, beliefs, perceptions, and experiences, and the likely influence of these factors on child protection decision making, an interpretive orientation was used. Data collection methods included the administration of questionaries, presentation of a videotaped child protection scenario as a stimulus to discussion, transcription and analysis of small group discussions, and a reflective activity.
Findings indicated that preservice teachers' intuitive decision making was dependent primarily on their interpersonal perceptions of the stakeholders, their personal beliefs, and their past experiences which interacted with each other. Knowledge played only a minimal role. The findings of the study contribute to the child protection literature by linking the role of beliefs, perceptions, knowledge and experiences with teachers' decision making in relation to child protection.
Robinson's (1993) Problem-Based Methodology was used to develop a child protection curriculum framework for use by teacher educators in preservice teacher education from the findings of the study. The findings illuminated how preservice teachers make child protection decisions at the point of entry to their preservice course.
The study is significant in that it found that knowledge played a limited role in child protection decision making, suggesting that programs which aim to improve teachers' knowledge of definitions, signs and reporting procedures can be expected to be ineffective. On the other hand, programs which also consider the role of teachers' beliefs, experiences and perceptions are more likely to be effective.
The findings imply that preservice child protection programs should include not only the skills necessary for child protection decision making, but also a metacognitive understanding of the decision making process in order to advance preservice teachers from intuitive to more rational bases of child protection decision making.
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Oliveira, Ariston Diniz de. "Decision making naturalized: the interweaving of the unconscious, the emotional and the rational in decisions taken in a contigent world." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/9583.
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Dadas as limitações e inadequações presentes, tanto no arquétipo do tomador de decisão como um agente racional, adotado nas teorias econômicas e gerenciais, quanto no estereótipo de um ser transcendental, tão presente na vida prosaica, se faz necessário substituí-los por uma nova perspectiva: onde o tomador de decisão é um animal emocional, frágil diante do acaso, e fruto de um processo evolutivo.
Given the limitations and inadequacy both of the image of the decision maker as a rational agent, prevailing in the economic and managerial theories, as well as the image of a souled transcedental human being in the prosaic life, it is necessary to replace both images by a evolutionary, emotional and fragile, but more real, image of the decision maker.
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Lu, Lei 1975. "Essays on asset pricing with heterogeneous beliefs and bounded rational investor." Thesis, McGill University, 2007. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=103267.
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The thesis includes two essays on asset pricing. In the first essay, "Asset Pricing in a Monetary Economy with Heterogeneous Beliefs", we shed new light on the role of monetary policy in asset pricing by focusing on the case where investors have heterogeneous expectations about future monetary policy. Under heterogeneity in beliefs, investors place bets against each other on the evolution of money supply, and as a result, the sharing of wealth in the economy evolves stochastically over time, making money non-neutral. Employing a continuous-time, general equilibrium model, we establish these fluctuations to be rich in implications, in that they majorly affect the equilibrium prices of all assets, as well as inflation. In particular, we find that the stock market volatility may be significantly increased by the heterogeneity in beliefs, a conclusion supported by our empirical analysis. The second essay is titled with " Asset Pricing and Welfare Analysis with Bounded Rational Investors". Motivated by the fact that investors have limited ability and insufficient knowledge to process information, I model investors' bounded-rational behavior in processing information and study its implications on asset pricing. Bounded rational investors perceive "correlated" information (which consists of news that is correlated with fundamentals, but provides no information on them) as "fundamental" information. This generates "bounded rational risk". Asset prices and volatilities of asset returns are derived. Specially, the equity premium and the stock volatility are raised under some conditions. I also analyze the welfare impact of bounded rationality.
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Dean, Dianne. "Consumption of politics : it's not always a rational choice : the electoral decision-making of young voters." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/198.
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The aim of this thesis was to explore the efficacy of the rational choice model in the electoral decision making of young people. The initial view was that this was too narrow a concept to apply to a real world situation. Therefore, consumer behaviour theory was reviewed in order to find out how marketers understand consumer decision making and explore if this could add anything to electoral decision making. Using an ideographic approach, this research revealed a number of different groups that did not conform to the rational choice model. Moreover, it was interesting to discover that many voter and non-voter groups exhibit what can be described as irrational behaviour. Using education as a key variable and the Elaboration Likelihood Model as an analytical framework, it was possible to identify the different ways in which the groups built up their political knowledge and what effect this had upon the extent of their engagement with the electoral process. Two models were developed that described the various groups and their electoral behaviour. The thesis concludes by suggesting that engagement is limited to a small number of groups and the level of engagement is determined by a complex mix of education, life stage and the notion of risk.
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Jelihovschi, Ana Paula Gomes. "Look before you leap: the effects of cognitive impulsiveness and reasoning process on rational decision making." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/18251.
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Impulsivity may lead to several unfortunate consequences and maladaptive behaviors for clinical and non-clinical people. Although many studies discuss the negative impact of it, few of them emphasize the relationship between cognitive impulsiveness and decision making in non-clinical subjects. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive impulsiveness on decision making and explore the strategies used by participants to solve problems. For this purpose, we apply two measures of impulsivity: the self-report Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the performance based Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT).This is the first study that compares self-report impulsiveness based on BIS-11 and performance-based reflectivity measured by CRT. Moreover, due to the fact that we apply the instruments on pen and paper, it is possible to evaluate participants’ reasoning processes employed to answer CRT questions. These reasoning processes are related to the role of Executive Functions for decision making and its relationship with impulsiveness. In practical terms, we observed participants’ strategies by analyzing their calculation expressions and data organization to answer CRT questions in the paper sheet. The sample consists of 191 non-clinical adults, professionals, and undergraduate students from the fields of business, management, and accounting. Results show that cognitive impulsiveness may negatively affect performance. Moreover, there is no difference in strategies used by impulsive and non-impulsive people during a decision making, and who calculate in the paper sheet perform better. Finally, people who inhibit their immediate answers also perform better during a decision making.
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Lee, Jongho. "Following one's heart : emotions and voting /." Digital version accessible at:, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Bryant, Monica Raye. "Decision Making and the Adoption Process for American Families of Chinese Children: An Application of Rational Choice Theory." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32411.
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Interviews were conducted with 20 parents in the US who have adopted one or more children from China. The study focuses on the motivation to adopt, decision making regarding adoption and the process in relation to rational choice theory. The interviews also inquired about their required adoption trip to China and the post-adoption adjustment phase including bonding and developmental delays, as well as about why families chose to adopt from China, how they learned about the adoption agency they used and whether or not they knew families that had adopted internationally and more specifically from China. This information provided insight into the way that families obtained information that helped them reach important decisions throughout the adoption process.Master of Science
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Gustafsson, Emil, and Fredrik Nordström. "A Rational Take on Decision Making : A Case Study of Sweden’s Budget for Energy, Climate and Environment." Thesis, KTH, Energiteknik, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-170878.
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This project is written under the supervision of KTH and its energy department (dESA). The key inspiration to this report is the “rational decision making approach” employed by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre. Their research is outstanding in the way that it rationalizes every investment decision to its measurable and unmeasurable out- comes. The research is intuitive yet groundbreaking when it comes to cost-benefit analysis. The objective of this report is to apply the pillars of rationality using a Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) on the Swedish approach to making decisions regarding cli- mate and energy policy. The goal is to give an indication of the effectiveness of the budget decision made by the Swedish government. The first part of the report accounts for the establishment of the simplified comparison model (MCDA). The literature review accounts for previous work conducted within this field, both by the Copenhagen Consensus Center but also other parties, to lay groundwork for the model used in the second part. The method then generates a model to be used to evaluate the Swedish budget for climate and energy policy. The second part applies the model established in the first part on the Swedish budget to result in a reference point for evaluation. The main outcome is the development of a model that can be calibrated to that which generates the most effective good. The model is to be seen as a prototype subject to many iterations before official use. Early results of the model indicate that investments in preservation of nature and similar have a low benefit compared to that of investments in sustainable cities and research.Denna rapport är skriven åt skolan för Energisystemanalys (dESA) på KTH, i syfte att ta fram underlag åt besluts- fattare för att användas för investeringsbeslut inom energi-, klimat- och miljöpolitik. Huvudinspirationen till projektet härstammar från den rationella forskning som bedrivs vid Copenhagen Consensus Center. Forskningen är unik i det avseende att den lyckas konkretisera och samla alla former av utfall från ett investeringsbeslut. Forskningen är intuitiv men ändå revolutionerande när det kommer till kostnad- nytta-analyser. Rapporten syftar till att använda rationaliteten bakom en Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) på Sveriges investeringsbeslut för energi-, klimat- och miljöpolitik. Målet med rapporten är dels att skapa en modell som kan av- vändas för att utvärdera investeringsbeslut, samt att ge en indikation på effektiviteten av de budgetbeslut som fattats av den svenska regeringen inom dessa områden. Första delen av rapporten redogör för upprättandet av en jämförelsemodell (MCDA) där litteraturstudien behandlar dels tidigare arbeten gjorda av Copenhagen Consensus Center samt andra studier som använder sig av MCDA. Detta för att ge en grund att stå på vid användandet av modellen. I metod delen skapas sedan den modell som i del två appliceras på Sveriges budget för energi, klimat och miljö för att generera ett resultat som används som referens vid utvärdering av budgeten. Det primära resultatet är utvecklandet av modellen som kan användas för att bestämma vilka investeringar som genererar mest total nytta. Modellen bör ses som en första av flera iterationer som vid framtida studier kan förfinas, dels inom detta område men även för generellt beslutsfattande. Tidiga resultat från studien i denna rapport visar på att investeringar med avsikt att skydda och bevara natur, miljö och liknande genererar en låg total nytta medan investeringar inom forskning och hållbara städer skapar mer total nytta.
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Thomson, Jennifer Anne. "Clarifying the role of emotion within a rational decision making framework : an examination of smoking cessation using NRT." Thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493924.
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The UK government are currently engaged in a campaign to reduce adult smoking rates from 26 per cent in 2002 to 21 per cent or less in 2010 (Milne, 2005). The cornerstone of this strategy is the promotion of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to aid the withdrawal process. The importance of a market based product (NRT) within government strategy poses a topical area for investigation. This research aims to understand and clarify the role of emotion within a decision making framework resulting in a detailed understanding of the consumer decision making process involved when using NRT to aid smoking cessation. In order to achieve this; the Extended Model of Goal directed Behaviour (EMGB: Perugini & Conner, 2000) will operationalised. The EMGB is the latest model posed to gain a better understanding of the cognitive and affective decision making process.
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Intravia, Jonathan. "The roles of social bonds, personality, and rational decision-making : an empirical investigation into hirschi's "new" control theory." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0003232.
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Intravia, Jonathan. "The Roles of Social Bonds, Personality, and Rational Decision-Making: An Empirical Investigation into Hirschi’s “New” Control Theory." Scholar Commons, 2009. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2023.
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Control theories have substantively contributed both theoretically and empirically to criminological research. Recently, Hirschi moved away from the personality constructs associated with self-control and created a new conceptualization that favors social bonds. Specifically, Hirschi suggests that counting the number of inhibitors (derived from social bonds) is the best way to predict delinquency. Using middle school and high school students from Largo Florida, this study examines Hirschi's new conceptualization of inhibitors by comparing it with self-control and a traditional social bonding scale. In addition, this study also explores whether Hirschi's new conceptualization and self-control operate through a cognitive scale. Results suggest that some components of Hirschi's new conceptualization of inhibitors are supported, while others are not. Finally, limitations are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.
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Sand, Lovisa. "What motivates countries’ decisions to contribute to peacekeeping? : The case of Sweden." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-97238.
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Following the mid 1990s, a drop in Swedish contributions to UN led peacekeeping have been evident and EU and NATO led operations have taken preference. However, in 2013 Sweden invested in a substantial troop contribution to a UN led peacekeeping operation in Mali. There is a lack of existing sources providing arguments for this sudden increase of support to a UN peacekeeping operation. This thesis looks at governmental documents and declarations of Sweden in order to find an understanding of why Sweden decided to contribute to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission (MINUSMA) in Mali in 2013. In light of the past trends of increased focus towards operations led by NATO or the EU, this research was interested in what motivated Sweden to implement a substantial troop contribution to an UN led operation. Through tracing the arguments used by the Swedish government regarding their involvement in Mali and looking at core concepts of rational choice to find if the decision was rational.
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Alriksson, Victor, and Isabella Ankarberg. "Beslutsfattande : En studie av näringslivet i Borås." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-23458.
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Beslut kan tas genom att följa en rationell modell eller på irrationella grunder. Vid beslut baserade på irrationella grunder kan beslutet tas utifrån personens intuition vilken är baserad på dennes tidigare erfarenheter. Individen kan även påstå att de följer sin intuition när de i själva verket påverkas av sina känslor. En problematisk detalj i att både som forskare samt beslutsfattare analysera ifall ett rationellt beslut tas är att hjärnan i själva verket tagit ett beslut flera sekunder innan det når medvetandet. Det innebär att det i verkligheten i stort sett är omöjligt att veta ifall ett rationellt beslut tagits. Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom en enkät studera hur 47 beslutsfattare i något av E-handelsstaden Borås medlemsföretag förklarar processen från idé till beslut. Utifrån svaren från enkäten tolkar vi ifall respondenterna beskriver sin beslutsprocess utifrån en rationell modell. Analysen sker genom att utgå från relevant beslutsteori och litteratur som är sammanställd i referensramen. Med hjälp av vår studie kan vi dra slutsatsen att det finns en skillnad mellan män och kvinnor i hur rationella de beskriver sig. I en jämförelse av frågorna kan det utläsas att kvinnorna visar sig vara mer rationella än männen i sex av nio fall. Både männen och kvinnorna är inte fullt rationella, utan i genomsnitt beskriver de sig som begränsat rationella. Det innebär att de inser att det inte är möjligt att ta fullt rationella beslut på grund av yttre faktorer som kan påverka beslutsprocessen.Decisions can be made by following a rational model or by irrational bases. When decisions is based on irrational grounds the decision can follow the person's intuition, which is based on earlier experience. The individual might say they follow their intuition but in reality they are affected by their feelings. A problematic detail both for scientists and decision-makers when trying to analyze if they made a rational decision is that the brain actually have made a decision several seconds before it reaches your mind. In reality this means that it is almost impossible to know if a decision really is rational.The purpose of this essay is to study 47 decision-makers that are working in companies which are members of E-handelsstaden Borås. We have studied the decision-makers with the help of a questionnaire that shows how they describe the decision-making process from an idea to a decision. The answers from the questionnaire helped us to understand if they described their decision-making process as being based on a rational model. The analysis is done by reading relevant decision theory and literature which is compiled in the frame of reference.With our study we can come to the conclusion that there's a difference between men and women in how rational they describe themselves. In a comparison of the questions it shows that women describe themselves more rational than men in six out of nine cases. Both men and women aren't fully rational, in fact in average they are bounded rational. It means that they realize it's not possible to make fully rational decisions because of external factors which can affect the decision process.Note that the study is written in Swedish.
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Li, Ji. "Essays on discrete choice under social interaction methodology and applications /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1180499711.
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Capistran, Carmona Carlos. "Essays on forecast evaluation under general loss functions /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3175283.
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Peltomäki, Johanna, and Michelle Cardonius. "Bostadsspekulantens köpbeslut : En kvantitativ studie över bostadsspekulantens beslutspåverkan." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för ekonomi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-19274.
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Bakgrunden för denna studie är problematiken kring beslutsfattande. Tidigare forskning visar att en individ dagligen fattar en mängd medvetna och omedvetna beslut. Dessa beslut faller sig olika utefter vilka erfarenheter, preferenser och känslor individen har och hur detta påverkar individen vid köp av dyra sällanköpsvaror. Syftet med studien är att identifiera faktorer och personlighetstyper som influerar köparens beslut gällande dyra sällanköpsvaror.The aim of this study is to identify factors and personality characteristics influencing the buyer's decision regarding expensive durable goods. The findings suggest how to apply knowledge and awareness of the decision process in on-site presentation to improve the efficiency of the selling process from the sellers’ perspective.
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Arvidsson, HG. "How to Enhance the Usefulness of Public Debates as a Support for Political Decision-Making." Thesis, Linköping University, Centre for Applied Ethics, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-8034.
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The objective for this study is to examine whether it is possible to use the method of reflective equilibrium in order to enhance the usefulness of public debates as a support for political decision-making. Since public debates from political quarters are seen as an important tool for policy-making, the need for a rational assessment of the views put forward in such debates are important. And since reflective equilibrium aims for coherence between judgments on different levels – intuitions, principles and theories, which all are put forward in public debates – the point of departure for this theses is that this method could be useful for the matter of bringing some kind of structure to public debates.
The analysis in this study shows that there actually are similarities between the method of reflective equilibrium and the course of public debates, since they both are characterized by the fact that viewpoints are mutually scrutinized in the light of one another. Further, it is argued that a more systematic applying of the method of reflective equilibrium would further the justification force of the outcome of public debates, since the method stresses the need of rationality and the importance of taking all relevant opinions into consideration. Therefore, the conclusion is that applying reflective equilibrium to public debates could make the political decision-making more democratic.
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Wholl, Douglas J. "A rational choice approach to professional crime using a meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002890.
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Parish, Kalind David Sommer. "Errors in Judgement: Evidence of the Fundamental Attribution Error in Supreme Court Decision-Making." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1431362168.
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Anderson-Marks, Michelle. "The decision making processes of small business owner-managers : an environmental focus." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2014. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/861.
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Large business is often the focus when environmental issues are discussed because their individual impact on the environment is viewed as larger than that of the smaller business. However due to the large size of the small business sector it has been recognised that reducing their collective impact is critical to achieving a sustainable future. A lack of engagement by small businesses in environmental management invoked an interest in understanding how to better engage the owner-managers in this area, but more specifically what influenced their decision.
With an emphasis on the day to day running of the business, many small business owner-managers place more emphasis on core business operations and often neglect the impact their business has on the natural environment. Considering 96% of all business in Australia is classified as small, their collective impact on the natural environment is significant. As many small business owner-managers see their environmental impact as minimal, improving their environmental behaviour is challenging.
The aim of this study was therefore to explore the decision making approaches of the small business owner-manager to environmental management issues. Nine small businesses from three industries were chosen and using the Critical Incident Technique to explore their decision making process, this study sought to understand from the owner-managers perspective how and why business decisions are made. Semi structured interviews were used to identify the decision making approaches for four different business decisions: economic, legislative, social and environmental. Over a series of interviews the owner-managers were able to freely describe their decision process and rich data was able to be obtained.
Results indicated that owner-managers base business decisions on many factors and use a range of decision making styles depending on the type, and importance, of the decision to be made, that is core business decision are more often rationally made, whilst discretionary decisions will often be made intuitively based on the information at hand. Therefore to better engage them in ways to improve environmental management practices, increasing the knowledge and understanding to the benefits of these improvements is imperative. In addition this information is more readily accepted when the information is relevant to their business and presented in a clear manner by someone with whom the owner-manager has established a pre-existing relationship.
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Reinhold, Andreas J. "Rationality through conflict and confrontation : an alternative to the traditional rational-choice approach with illustrations from decision-making in British Airways." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390314.
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The present thesis proposes that conflict and confrontation can, under certain conditions, lead to judgementally rational systemic action in cases where the assumptions of the traditional rational-choice approach are not satisfied. For this purpose, the concept of rationality in economIc sCIences and in particular in Operational Research is examined. Five types of rationality emerge: conceptual, logical, procedural, instrumental and judgemental rationality. Logical rationality guides the rationalchoice approach. The fact that logically rational action increasingly appeared to be judgementally irrational led to radical criticisms of the rational-choice approach in recent decades. Such criticisms, however, tend to discard valuable intellectual investments into the rational-choice approach. In an attempt to develop a less radical response, the assumptions underpinning the rationalchoice approach will be examined in Chapter 3. They will be referred to as the traditional paradigm. We will within the traditional paradigm differentiate between the assumption that seven action-relevant detenninants exist, and that system-wide values have - implicitly or explicitly - been assigned to them. The set of detenninants comprises the systemic utility function, the time discounting function, the social welfare function and model boundaries. A second group comprises estimates about strategic and natural uncertainty and the side effects of decision processes. The existence assumption will remain unchallenged in the present thesis. In many real-world situations, however, the assignment assumption is not satisfied. In such cases, the rationalchoice approach is inapplicable (although it is frequently still app/ied). Chapter 4 conjectures that conflict and confrontation, i.e. adversary processes, can provide an alternative. Conditions of beneficial conflict and confrontation will be derived from Habermas' theory of communicative action. The hypothesis is put to an empirical test. Chapters 5 and 6 describe examples of conflict and confrontation that occurred within British Airways. This evidence tends to support the hypothesis.