Designing Intelligent Decision Assistants to Assist Seniors with Medicare Plan Decision-Making: An Application of Cognitive Response Theories.

Aging limits the capacity of one’s working memory. Hence, in decision contexts where especially older people have to evaluate too many alternatives put a cognitive load on them, which impairs their decision-making process and their trust in their decisions. This study examined the effects of intelligent decision assistants on the perceived social support, perceived information load, and trust of seniors while using the Medicare Plan Finder website. A national sample of 420 seniors from the Qualtrics panel participated in this study. It was found that using an intelligent decision assistant on the Medicare Plan Finder website increased seniors’ perceived social support, reduced their perceived information load, and increased their trust in the Medicare Plan Finder website especially when they are at the alternative evaluation stage of Medicare plan decision-making. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.