• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.169-185
• /
• 2017

Given that nowadays things get very fast due to the pervasive use of the Internet and mobile devices, decision-making time can be an important variable in the online economic decisions. Although in experimental and behavioral economics, measures like scores or earnings are usually preferred, this study argues that the time variable can be dealt with as a new decision outcome. Thus, by selecting some psychological factors presumably impactful in the online context (i.e., incidental emotions, psychological distances, and individual's impulsivity), this study tested their effect on decision time in the online centipede game. As a result, the mean decision time in the game was longer (1) in the happiness condition than in the anger condition and (2) in the friend condition than in the stranger condition. The people with attention difficulties spent a short time in the decision and the people who dislike complex problems spent a short time in explaining their decision. This study can contribute to the field as it used the decision time as the dependent variable and it tested the effect of psychological factors in the context of online decision-making. Future studies can be conducted in other online decision situations or by considering other psychological variables.