Abstract
In the past century, the amount of information that is generated has increased at an exponential rate. As a result of this information saturation process or ‘information overload’, people cannot keep pace with the information flowing towards them. Organizations can take steps towards sustainability by improving the health conditions in their organizations and the products they offer. One way to do so is by trying to reduce information overload. Besides improving health conditions, decreasing information overload also positively affects the quality of organizational-level decision-making. This is a conceptual chapter in which propositions are built. The determinants of information overload and the effect on decision quality are described, and an extensive literature review is conducted. The chapter draws from decision theory and the theory of human information processing and focuses on the individual characteristics of decision-makers and the quality of the information provided by the information system. Seven propositions are formulated and several remedies for information overload are discussed. The chapter arrives at two determinants of an individual’s degree of information overload experienced (characteristics of the decision-maker and the information system), and it is argued that information overload has a negative influence on the quality of decisions. These concepts are combined in one model. The conceptual model is an attempt to provide a better theoretical understanding of the concept of information overload. Finally, contributions, limitations and areas for future research are discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2008). The dark side of information: Overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35, 180–191.
Conway, A. R. A., & Engle. (1996). Individual differences in working memory capacity: More evidence for a general capacity theory. Memory, 4(6), 577–590.
DeSanctis, G., & Poole, M. S. (1994). Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: Adaptive structuration theory. Organization Science, 5(2), 121–147.
Eppler, M., & Mengis, J. (2004). The concept of information overload: A review of literature from organization science, accounting, marketing, MIS, and related disciplines. Information Society, 20(5), 325–344.
Good, H. H. (1958). Greenhouses of science for management. Management Science, 4(4), 365–381.
Hall, A., & Walton, G. (2004). Information overload within the health care system: A literature review. Health Information Libraries Journal, 21, 102–108.
Jang, K. L. (2001). Behavioural-genetic perspectives on personality function. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 46(3), 234–244.
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review, 99(1), 122–149.
Kim, K., Lustria, M. L. A., & Burke, D. (2007). Predictors of cancer information overload: Findings from a national survey. Information Research, 12, 1–29.
Klapp, O. E. (1986). Overload and boredom: Essays on the quality of life in the information society. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.
Misra, S., & Stokols, D. (2012). Psychological and health outcomes of perceived in-formation overload. Environment and Behavior, 44, 737–759.
Rumelhart, D. E. (1977). Introduction to human information processing. New York: Wiley.
Russell, S. J., & Norvig, P. (1995). Artificial intelligence: A modern approach. Prentice Hall.
Schroder, H. M., Driver, M. J., & Streufert, S. (1967). Human information processing: Individuals and groups functioning in complex social situations. Holt: Rinehart and Winston.
Shneiderman, B., & Plaisant, C. (1987). Designing the user interface: Strategies for effective human-computer interaction. Readings: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioural model of rationality choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69(1), 99–118.
Swar, B., Hameed, T., & Reychav, I. (2017). Information overload, psychological ill-being, and behavioral intention to continue online healthcare information search. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 416–425.
Whittaker, S., & Sidner, C. (1996). Email overload: Exploring personal information management of email. Paper presented at the proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, New York.
Woolridge, M., & Jennings, N. R. (1995). Intelligent agents: Theory and practice. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 10, 2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van de Kaa, G. (2021). Strategic and Managerial Decision-Making for Sustainable Management: Factors and Remedies for Information Overload. In: Rezaei, J. (eds) Strategic Decision Making for Sustainable Management of Industrial Networks. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55385-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55385-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-55384-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-55385-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)