RESOURCE-ALLOCATION BEHAVIOR IN COMPLEX BUT COMMONPLACE TASKS

We all face resource-allocation tasks, yet little is known about how p eople make resource-allocation decisions. Three earlier papers (Langho ltz, Gettys, & Foote, 1993, 1994, 1995) established that people can in tuitively solve technical two-dimensional resource-allocation problems , where allocations are made on a continuous scale, reaching solutions that approach the optimum solution determined with Linear Programming (LP). In this research we expand our understanding of how people make resource-allocation decisions by examining how people perform complex but commonplace problems using a discrete scale where optimal solutio ns are determined with Integer Programming. We also contrast performan ce under conditions where progressively unequal scheduling is required to reach the optimum solution. The data show people can achieve solut ions that provide most of the payoffs found with LP, even when they ar e faced with a complicated three-dimensional problem, but there is a t endency toward equal scheduling under all conditions. (C) 1997 Academi c Press.