Decision-making styles and goal striving

Abstract

While previous research has demonstrated the role of decision-making styles in attaining various real-life outcomes, it has neglected to explore the underlying goal-related processes in terms of goal dimensions (ways in which people appraise their goals during goal striving). The present study examines whether the most studied decision-making styles are related to self-reported effort, goal progress, and action crisis as well as other goal dimensions. We conducted 14 studies (mutual conceptual replications) with Ntotal = 2574 (70% females) which included the General Decision-Making Styles questionnaire and various goal-related scales. The results from the mini meta-analysis showed that the rational and intuitive styles were positively related to the goal dimensions associated with successful goal pursuit (e.g., goal commitment, goal attainability, positive emotions, and goal progress), while the avoidant style was mainly related to various difficulties associated with goal striving (e.g., controlled motivation, negative emotions, and action crisis). The dependent and especially spontaneous styles were found to be very weakly associated with the selected goal dimensions. When the separate studies were analyzed in the regression analyses and more process-oriented goal dimensions were accounted for, decision-making styles were only minor predictors of self-reported effort expenditure, goal progress and action crisis. The study highlights the need and usefulness of a more nuanced processual approach in the research of individual decision-making differences in goal-directed behavior.