Title: An Experimental Investigation Of The Relationship Between Decision Makers, Decision Aids and Decision Making Effort
Abstract: AbstractThis paper reports the results of two laboratory experiments designed to assess the impact of decision aid use on effort expenditures by decision makers. The traditional assumption in the decision support systems (DSS) literature is that if decision makers are provided with expanded processing capabilities they will use them to analyze problems in more depth and as a result make better decisions. Empirical studies investigating the relationship between DSS and decision quality have not borne this out. The explanation for such outcomes could be found in behavioral decision making theories. The literature on behavioral decision making indicates that the conservation of effort may be more important than increased decision quality in some cases. If this is so, then the use of a decision aid may result in effort savings but not improved decision performance. The two experiments reported here compare the information processing effort expended by users of a decision aid designed to support preferential choice problems to unaided decision makers. Effort is measured by deriving information use and processing measures from concurrent verbal protocols.The results support the concept of effort minimization. Total information use did not increase with the availability of the decision aid, rather the decision aid was used in such a way as to replace, rather than augment, decision maker effort. In the various aided conditions, the decision aid accounted for from 25–40% of the total information processed by the decision maker. The results further indicate that the impact of the decision aid is more pronounced in task settings with a larger number of alternatives to choose from. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of both DSS research and design.RésuméCet article traite des résultats de deux expériences de laboratoire ayant pour objet d’évaluer l’impact de l’utilisation des aides décisionnelles sur les efforts consentis par les décideurs. Selon l’hypothèse traditionnelle contenue dans la documentation sur les systèmes d’aide à la décision (SAD), si le décideur dispose de capacités de traitement étendues, il s’en servira afin d’approfondir l’analyse des problèmes et d’améliorer ainsi sa prise de décision. Cependant, des études empiriques portant sur le rapport entre les SAD et la qualité des décisions prises, n’ont pas confirmé ce fait. Eexplication se trouve peut-être dans les théories behavioristes de prise de décision. Selon la documentation à ce sujet, l’économie d’effort l’emporterait dans certains cas sur l’amélioration de la qualité des décisions. Si c’est le cas, le fait d’utiliser une aide décisionnelle peut donner lieu à une économie d’effort sans améliorer les performances de la décision. Les deux expériences dont il est question ici comparent l’effort de traitement de l’information déployé par des utilisateurs d’une aide décisionnelle d’appui aux décisions impliquant une préférence, avec des décideurs non munis d’une aide. On a mesuré l’effort consenti en dérivant l’utilisation de l’information et les procédés de traitement de protocoles verbaux en simultané.Les résultats appuient l’idée de la minimisation de l’effort. Au lieu de voir l’utilisation globale de l’information augmenter avec la disponibilité d’une aide décisionnelle, on a constaté l’utilisation de celle-ci non pas pour augmenter, mais pour remplacer l’effort du décideur. Dans les différentes conditions où le décideur avait une aide décisionnelle, celle-ci fournissait entre 25 et 40% de l’information totale traitée. De plus, les résultats indiquent que l’impact de l’aide décisionnelle s’accroît lorsque la tâche implique un plus grand nombre de choix possibles. Earticle traite des répercussions de ces résultats, dans le contexte de la recherche sur les SAD que et de leur conception. Additional informationNotes on contributorsPeter ToddPeter Todd is an Assistant Professor of MIS in the School of Business at Queen’s University. He received his PhD in Management Information Systems from the University of British Columbia and has previously served on the faculty of the University of Houston. He has published in Communications of the ACM, MIS Quarterly, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Systems Research, Information and Management and The International Journal of Man- Machine Studies. His research interests include human-computer interaction, the impact of computer based support systems on individuals and organizations and behavioural decision theory.Izak BenbasatIzak Benbasat is CANFOR Professor of Management Information Systems and Director of Research at the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia. He holds a doctorate in Management Information Systems from the University of Minnesota (1974). He was a Marvin Bower Fellow at the Harvard Business School in 1985–86. He has served as Senior Associate Editor (for theory and research) of the MIS Quarterly and as Editor of the Information Systems and Decision Support Systems Department of Management Science. He has been involved with laboratory experimentation in information systems since 1973, investigating topics such as decision support systems, human computer interfaces and graphical information presentation. His other research interests include knowledge acquisition for expert systems design and managing the introduction of new information technologies.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 53
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