Construct development and measurement of indecisiveness

Purpose – The current study aims to aid in the theoretical development of the indecisiveness construct, create a definition of indecisiveness that reflects current research, and differentiate indecisiveness from other constructs in the field. An indecisiveness scale with positive psychometric properties is developed to measure the construct. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 578 undergraduate participants answered an open ended question inquiring about a “big” decision they were facing in their life. Participants completed questionnaires on indecisiveness and decision‐making strategies. Findings – Of the 578 total participants who completed the study, 465 (approximately 81 percent) stated that they felt indecisive with regard to their “big” decision. While researchers may be hesitant to study indecisiveness because the phenomenon is thought to be rare, the current study indicates that the presumed anomaly may exist more often than the literature reflects. What's more, the widespread occurrence of indecisiveness speaks the importance of studying the phenomenon. Results also suggest strong support for using the indecisiveness scale, with psychometric tests finding convergent validity with emotion‐focused decision‐making strategies and divergent validity with logic‐focused strategies. Research limitations/implications – Limitations include using a sample of undergraduate students to initially test the indecisiveness scale. Practical implications – With a solid construct definition and psychometrically sound measurement instrument, this paper hopes to encourage future research on indecisiveness and its role in the decision‐making process. This work is especially critical in the upper echelons of organizations, where indecisiveness can affect millions of lives and cost billions of dollars. Originality/value – Research studying indecisiveness is sparse at best, and the need to study the construct has been consistently overlooked in the literature. This study is the first of its kind to develop a solid definition of indecisiveness as it exists in the decision‐making process and an accompanying measurement instrument with positive psychometric qualities.