Operationalization of Information Acquisition Switching Behavior in the Context of Idea Selection

Decision makers ought to adapt their information acquisition (IA) contingent to the task, which has not yet been investigated in the context of idea selection. Therefore, this paper suggests an operationalization of IA switching behavior using eye-tracking data. A first data analysis indicates that raters switch between modes of high and low IA in an idea selection task. These modes of IA could be associated with compensatory and non-compensatory information integration. The extent of switches between IA modes seems to stay stable between the first and the second half of the task with a slight decreasing trend towards the end. Future research will add cognitive load to explain occurring switches between different IA modes and may allow to deduce recommendations for more efficient IT designs, preserving rater's cognitive resources.