Is Confidence in Decisions Related to Feedback? Evidence-And Lack of Evidence-From Random Samples of Real-World Managerial Behavior?

Confidence in decision making is an important dimension of managerial behavior. However, what is the relation between confidence and feedback on decisions? To explore this and related issues, use was made of the ESM (Experience Sampling Method) to sample decisions taken by students and business executives. For several days, participants received 4 or 5 SMS messages daily (on their mobile telephones) at random moments at which point they completed questionnaires about their decision making activities. These covered differences between types of decisions, their structure, feedback, and confidence in decisions as well as in the validity of feedback. No relation was found between confidence and feedback. In addition, although participants know that feedback can provide both "confirming" and "disconfirming" evidence, their ability to specify appropriate feedback is imperfect. Finally, difficulties in using the ESM are discussed as are possibilities for further research using this methodology