The effectiveness of choice strategies by elimination: An empirical study and implications for DSS design

Comparing alternative choices is common in business decision making. When facing with a selection problem that involves a great number of choice alternatives, decision makers tend to adopt a sequential decision making process that consists of comparing pairs of alternatives, and dropping the least preferred one from consideration until the last one prevails. This study investigates two choice strategies: plan—ahead strategy vs. anchor-and-adjustment strategy. A laboratory experiment was conducted. It was found that (1) decision makers did have preference in performing choice by elimination, and (2) those who adopted an “anchor-and-adjustment” approach tended to perform better. Implications of the findings for DSS design are discussed.