Decision Confidence, Information Usefulness, and Information Seeking Intention in the Presence of Disconfirming Information

The increasing use of data visualization for displaying information in a transdisciplinary environment raises issues about client information seeking in the decision-making processes. Field experts and individuals with high confidence tend to seek less information for their decisions than non-experts and individuals who are less confident. This work fills a gap about the effect of the information display format, visual or nonvisual, upon the client’s decision. In the context of data visualization and confirmation bias, this work provides needed research on computer aided information seeking in a decision-making, informing environment. Guided by the theories of confirmation bias and cognitive fit, we propose and test a model that investigates the impact of apriori decision confidence on seeking more information and information usefulness. Findings indicate that both information presentation type and confirmation bias affect the decision process of the information seeker. Findings also indicate that overall, the higher the confidence, the less likely users will find disconfirming evidence useful.