The Effects of Time Pressure on Belief Revision in Accounting

This study advances several propositions about the effects of time pressure on individuals’ belief revisions within a pressure-arousal-effort-performance framework. There is a significant body of research that documents the importance of both time pressure and order effects in an accounting environment. However, prior research has not investigated how the order of information affects individuals’ belief revision processes under varying levels of time pressure, even though the inclusion of a time pressure variable has been noted as relevant in belief revision research, both in general (Hogarth and Einhorn 1992) and in accounting (Kahle, Pinsker, and Pennington 2005; Trotman and Wright 2000). In this review, we extend prior belief revision research in accounting by describing how time pressure interacts with personal and task variables and the subprocesses described in the belief-adjustment model (Hogarth and Einhorn 1992). Propositions are advanced on the effects of time pressure on individuals’ belief revisions. A better understanding of such interactive effects helps to explain the mixed results identified in prior studies.

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