Normative target-based decision making

This paper relates normative expected-utility decision making to target-based decision making, and introduces a new quantity, the aspiration equivalent. We show that using the aspiration equivalent as a target provides a new method for choosing between lotteries that is consistent with expected-utility maximization. Furthermore, we show that the aspiration-equivalent target provides a win-win situation for executive-manager delegation. This result furnishes a new link between normative decision analysis and target-based decision making. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.