Based on the findings from a survey conducted on decision-makers in the Macao civil service, it was discovered that decision-makers were case specific when they made decisions. How they perceived the nature of the case (the type of case) in the case identification stage had a direct effect on their behaviour in the case handling stage, i.e., how they made decisions. Findings from the study seem to support contingency theories, indicating that decision-makers used different approaches in handling different types of cases. Furthermore, organizational factors such as rank, work experience and habit influenced how decisions were made. Bivariate analysis was used to examine the effects of the individual characteristics of the decision-makers on decision-making behaviour in handling different types of cases. Multivariate analysis was used to examine the relationships between the individual characteristics of the decision-makers and decision-making behaviour. The findings indicate that the perception of what should and could be done had an effect on decision-making behaviour. In other words, decision-making behaviour could be explained from the perspective of power and experience. Power dictates what could be done and experience influences the perception of what should be done. The findings from the study are able to further our understanding of decision-making behaviour by supplementing the existing decision-making models.