Description
Purpose of the study: Board members are often in group decision-making situations that impact entire organizations and are, therefore, expected to reach decisions in a deliberative manner. The current research investigates the quality of information exchange and resulting decisions of supervisory and managing board members. In an experimental design, we also examine whether an advocacy procedure improves decision quality.Method: We conducted a field experiment using the hidden profile paradigm among supervisory and managing board members (N = 72). These high-level decision makers were randomly assigned into groups of three to participate in a candidate selection task. Each group member received shared as well as unique information about three candidates, privately wrote down his or her initial preference, and engaged in a group discussion to jointly choose the best candidate. The best alternative could have been found by the group when all unique information was pooled during group discussion. Prior to group decision-making, we offered participants in the experimental condition (N = 39) an advocacy procedure. Participants in the control condition (N = 33) were not offered any procedure.
Results: Results showed that only 27 percent of the groups chose the best alternative. This finding was, however, not a result of the group discussion. Rather, the initial preference of the majority predicted the groups’ decisions. Nevertheless, groups were satisfied with the decision-making process and outcome, especially when using the advocacy procedure. This procedure did, however, not improve the actual decision quality.
Conclusions: Whereas participants had the subjective feeling that they were successful in choosing the best alternative, the actual decision quality was not improved by the advocacy procedure but biased by the initial preferences of the majority.
| Period | 22 Nov 2019 |
|---|---|
| Event title | WAOP Conference |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Amsterdam, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |