Need for cognition and response mode in the active construction of an information domain

This paper argues that need for cognition (NFC) - a measure of dispositional motivation - has a meaningful relation to decision strategy. Managers low, moderate, and high in NFC were asked to either judge job candidates or choose one candidate (i.e., response mode, a situational variable). Using an Information Display Board to present candidates, and information searched as an index of decision strategy, results supported the prediction that high NFC would be associated with more thorough decision behavior. A response mode by need for cognition interaction indicated that high-NFC managers produced thorough search even in the choice response mode, where a less thorough search is promoted. This study underscores the moderating influence of NFC on the active construction of an information domain, and extends the study of that variable from cognitive elaboration to decision strategy.