N.P. Melone, Charles H. Lundquist Coll. of Bus., Oregon Univ., Eugene, OR, USA
T.W. McGuire, Charles H. Lundquist Coll. of Bus., Oregon Univ., Eugene, OR, USA
L.W. Chan, Charles H. Lundquist Coll. of Bus., Oregon Univ., Eugene, OR, USA
T.A. Gerwing, Charles H. Lundquist Coll. of Bus., Oregon Univ., Eugene, OR, USA
118 undergraduate business students participated in an experiment which required that they manage production and workforce with the objective of minimizing costs using one of two forms of computer-based DSS. Using a 2/spl times/2 design, subjects were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: the (1) presence or (2) absence of a modeling feature, crossed with a (3) "good" or (4) "bad" decision environment implemented as a decreasing or increasing sales trend. Results indicate that subjects with access to a modeling feature performed better than those without such capability; subjects' confidence, however, was not correlated with environmental effects or the availability of a modeling feature. We also found a strong correlation between confidence and actual decision quality for all conditions. All these results are in the opposite direction from those of a previously published study using the same task but a different DSS. Finally, we found no evidence of overconfidence, on average, in any of our conditions.
Index Terms:
decision support systems; human resource management; modelling; human factors; statistical analysis; sales management; DSS; modeling feature; exogenous factors; decision quality; confidence; undergraduate business students; production management; workforce management; cost minimization; decision environment; decreasing sales; increasing sales; environmental effects; correlation; overconfidence
Citation:
N.P. Melone, T.W. McGuire, L.W. Chan, T.A. Gerwing, "Effects of DSS, modeling, and exogenous factors on decision quality and confidence," hicss, pp.152, 28th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'95), 1995