Decision-making styles and trust across farmers and bankers: Global survey results

Abstract

Understanding in which contexts professionals come to trust their gut is critical both for human relations as well as for human–computer interaction. A prominent viewpoint promotes a deliberate trust development approach for professionals in all industries and at all levels of organizations (people use good thinking). The use of intuition has also been related to trust development. There is little empirical research that illuminates the circumstances under which intuitive decision making versus deliberative decision making influences trust. Lack of trust in technology and information systems has been suggested as a bottleneck in advancement. Through a survey we aimed to better understand the phenomenon of intuitive decision making of farmers and bankers. The main research purpose is to compare and contrast decision making styles of two environmentally different professions from a heterogeneous sample from different countries. Our results suggest that one’s sector plays a main role, when professionals determine if they can trust information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the workplace. We inform suggestions for practice and guide future research into this important area of managerial cognition and decision-making.