When you overhear a person five spots ahead of you at the coffee shop ordering a mocha light decaf no whip one pump, it might be enough to make you abandon your place in line and walk out of the store. But what if the context is different, and what's at stake isn't a handcrafted drink, but your health -- or even life itself?
The factors influencing people who face this dilemma are analyzed in "Waiting Patiently: An Empirical Study of Queue Abandonment in an Emergency Department" by Christian Terwiesch, Wharton operations and information management professor, and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Robert J. Batt, a recent Wharton doctoral graduate. Knowing what compels emergency room visitors to wait -- or bail -- is a key piece of information that has been missing from the equation, despite its critical consequences, says Terwiesch.
To read the original article: Losing Patience (and Patients): What Makes People Wait in Line, or Decide to Bail - Knowledge@Wharton
