Information Stopping Rules in a New Information Age

Information stopping rules consider the cognitive reasons decision makers determine when enough information is collected to make a decision. Previous research outlines five stopping rules decision makers use and applies them in different decision context. Specifically, Browne, Pitts, and Wetherbe (2007) consider three information search tasks (search for a television, map, and job) and hypothesize how structured the task is will impact the stopping rule employed. This research replicates that study in a new information environment with new search methodologies and technology. We find that structured tasks use similar stopping rules, however poorly structured tasks now involve the use of different stopping rules than previously determined. The updated findings suggest information systems used for poorly structured search tasks might also benefit from highlighting the uniqueness of information in order to encourage a user to continue searching for information