An Investigation of Factors Influencing Causal Attributions in Managerial Decision Making

This study investigates factors influencing causal attributions in managerial decision making. Three categories of factors are identified: (i) prior beliefs (ii) background frequencies, and (iii) covariation cues. The impact of factors in each of the above categories on causal attribution are studie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMarketing letters Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 301 - 312
Main Authors Narayanan, Sunder, Lehmann, Donald R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.08.1998
Subjects
Advertising expenditures
Business orders
Causal covariation
Causality
Decision support systems
Linear regression
Marketing
Population growth
Sales management
Sample size
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Summary:This study investigates factors influencing causal attributions in managerial decision making. Three categories of factors are identified: (i) prior beliefs (ii) background frequencies, and (iii) covariation cues. The impact of factors in each of the above categories on causal attribution are studied in a marketing decision making context. Subjects demonstrated a bias toward assigning causality to variables that occurred infrequently or were controllable. Also, subjects were particularly influenced by the joint-occurrences of cause and effect variables.
ISSN:0923-0645
1573-059X
DOI:10.1023/A:1008076323554