DSS Behavioral Impact The Use of Information in Decision Making: An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Computer- Based Decision Aids

The traditional assumption i the decision sup-port systems (DSS) literature is that if decision makers are provided with expanded processing capabilities they will use them to analyze prob-lems in more depth and, as a result, make bet-ter decisions. Empirical studies investigating the relationship between DSS and decision quafity 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, ff this is so, then the use of a decision aid may result in effort sav-ings but not improved ecision performance. The two experiments reported here use verbal pro-tocol analysis to compare the extent of informa-tion use by unaided decision makers and users of a decision aid designed to support preferen-tial choice problems. The results of the two studies indicate that subjects with a decision aid did not use more information than those without one. Overall, subjects behaved as if effort minimization was an important consideration. For DSS researchers these studies indicate that to understand the DSS-decision quality relationship, it is necessary to consider the decision maker’s tradeoff between improving decision quality and conserving effort. For DSS designers these results imply a need to focus on the moderating role that effort will play in determining DSS effectiveness. Keywords:Decision support systems, informa-tion processing, cognitive cost-benefit theor