The Role of Routines in Reducing Pervasive Uncertainty

Under conditions of pervasive uncertainty, increasing the "amount" of information will not necessarily decrease uncertainty. Perhaps more information will even increase uncertainty. Since information may be valuable, even under conditions of pervasive uncertainty, this amounts to a puzzle. Its solution seems to hold the promise of understanding how decisionmakers actually go about reducing uncertainty in its more pervasive forms and is therefore at the center of attention in the present article. It is hypothesized that the role of routines in decision-making provides the key to solve the "information puzzle." Drawing on data from 56 companies, the argument is supported by empirical tests employing path analysis by linear structural equations modeling.