The views and perceptions of managers on the role of marketing research in decision making

Abstract

In this article, the author conducts an empirical diagnosis of managers’ views and perceptions in the context of use of information obtained from marketing research in decision-making processes. It is argued that decision makers who take charge of management, despite their strong declarations and beliefs about the potential and usefulness of information in decisions, in reality prefer solutions based on intuition and irrational thinking. Therefore, the objective of the conducted study is to explore mechanisms of such paradoxes. However, through empirical research, the author endeavored to find the answers associated with the specific factors that are likely to favor such an unreasonable thinking and activities undertaken by managers in decision-making processes. Based on the sample ( N = 213), which contained mainly information users, it was confirmed that managers, faced with a difficulty of information processing (e.g., due to information overloading problems and requirements of analytical thinking), or narrow cognitive capacities, limited memory, and strong reliance on personal experience, look for much simpler solutions in decision making. They preferably move toward the irrational sphere of making choices. Thus, the information, obtained from research, that is available to managers is rather neglected instead of being closely inspected (scrutinized). Moreover, the greater the surprise in information derived from marketing research (i.e., the wider is the discrepancy between the value of information provided by analysts and managers’ expectations), the greater their inclination to reject any information and much greater exposure toward irrational thinking in decision making. As a matter of fact, the problems associated with information adaptation in decisions, as well as the problems of analytical thinking, put the question mark over the entire usefulness of information and further deliberate conducting of the marketing research.