When Clarity Clouds the View: Introducing a Decision Style Framework for Assessing Task-Related Effectiveness in Analysis and Intuition

Abstract

Recent scholarly discussions suggest the potential superiority of intuition over analysis in tasks with high equivocality. However, it remains unclear when and whether intuition is preferable when both uncertainty and equivocality are considered. Addressing this gap, the article introduces a framework linking the effectiveness of individual decision styles with configurations of uncertainty and equivocality, adopting an information processing perspective. Within this framework, intuitiveness and adaptiveness are treated as independent dimensions of decision styles, associating intuitiveness with equivocality and adaptiveness with uncertainty in terms of effectiveness. To demonstrate the value of the framework, the article discusses implications for research.