Cross-cultural differences in choice behavior and use of decision aids: A comparison of Japan and the United States

A controlled laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effect of cu ltural differences on decision strategy. Participants from two cultures (Ja pan and the United States) completed multiattribute preferential choice tas ks with and without use of computerized decision aids. The results indicate that Japanese participants were less likely to invoke compensatory decisio n processes, which involve conflict-confronting assessment of trade-offs am ong attributes. This behavior is consistent with some cultural differences described in extant literature. The results call into question the generali zability across cultures of descriptive decision theories, which come large ly from the West, and suggest the need for descriptive theories that incorp orate cultural factors. (C) 1999 Academic Press.