Resumo

Humans face complexity in the most routine decisions, such as choosing the toppings of a pizza, and also important decisions in life, as choosing the courses offered at graduate school and career decisions. Even though there is a consensus in literature that complexity is an important fact that influences and predicts behavior, it is also known that the definition of complexity is far from clear (Liu & Li, 2012; Campbell, 1988). Is imperative for the research understand the effect of complexity on decision-making, whereas is assumed that human computational resources are limited (Simon, 1955).

The problem that this research seeks to understand is: how the complexity and decision-making are interconnected with scientific knowledge? The purpose of this paper is to understand how the complexity and decision-making are interconnected as scientific knowledge. We aim to: i) examine the conceptual structure of studies that investigate complexity and decision-making; ii) identify the knowledge base regarding these topics and its intellectual structure; and iii) present a social network structure of these scientific community.

The theoretical background is based on a general definition of complexity, derived from the Complexity Theory. It is highlighted how this construct is understood in different areas and paradigms, based Rescher’s (1998) proposition. Subsequently, we present a comprehensive review of how complexity is understood and researched in the field of decision making. For this we discuss the classic views of Simon (1962), Campbell (1988) and Wood's (1986), as well as more recent studies that address the theme, such as Liu and Li (2012) and Hærem et al. (2015).

The annual growth rate of scientific production relating these two topics together is 12.12%. Our results point out the multidisciplinary nature of the research involving both topics. The conceptual structure shows vastly different themes with our search words. Some clusters has different approaches about complexity and the research on career decision making is robustness. Other research themes highlighted were fuzzy logic and multi-criteria decision making.

Research involving complexity and decision making are still important, pointing out that this is still a profitable field and with space for further discussions. To move forward with the confusion between complexity vs. difficulty we suggest that researches must understand how the complexity construct was operationalized in decision-making field. Career decision making is a well-developed theme and it is essential in the research dynamics involving complexity and decision making. Shared decision making is an emerging themes and more reasearch in this topic should be performed.

Campbell, D. J. (1988). Task complexity: A review and analysis. Academy of management review, 13(1), 40-52. Hærem, T., Pentland, B. T., & Miller, K. D. (2015). Task complexity: Extending a core concept. Academy of management review, 40(3), 446-460. Liu, P., & Li, Z. (2012). Task complexity: A review and conceptualization framework. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 42(6), 553-568. Rescher, N. (1998). Complexity: A philosophical overview. Transaction Publishers. Simon, H. A. (1962). The architecture of complexity. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(6), 467-482.