Choice in a changing world

Decision models which aspire to generality are weak since they must be divorced from any societal environment, or assume universality for one form of society. The former is the case with normative rational models, the latter with descriptive ones such as incrementalism. To assume that decision modes vary in response to environmental factors might be a more fruitful basis for analysis. This is the point of departure for the present paper, which offers a conceptual framework independent ofa priori assumptions about the decisionmaker's environment. Among hypotheses which are presented on the relationships between environmental and decision variables, is the suggestion that an important factor affecting the style of decisionmakers is their perception of change. An environment perceived as relatively stable or gradually changing will elicit incremental decision processes, while decisionmakers finding themselves subjected to rapid change in a turbulent environment may adopt a decision mode called entrepreneurial. This is distinguished from the incremental mode by, among other characteristics, its greater propensity for risk.