Measuring the Effectiveness of Hypertext In Decision Support

Hypertext is an emerging technology that has not been researched adequately, particularly in organizations that utilize decision support technologies. This paper suggests that developing a set of dependent variables to measure effectiveness of hypertext in decision support is an important first step in a program of research. A review of empirical hypertext research is presented followed by a discussion of research assessing effectiveness of decision support and related systems. The role of hypertext in organizations is conceptually linked to the three main phases of the decision making process: problem structuring, analysis, and problem resolution. A set of six classes of appropriate dependent variables for assessing effectiveness of hypertext is suggested within the context of the decision making phases: information content and function variables are associated with problem structuring; presentation and usage variables are associated with analysis; outcome and perception variables are associated with problem resolution

Factors determining the behavior and effectiveness of personal decision support systems users: An examination of Fishbein\u27s model

Personal computing, and the microcomputer which support it, are referred to as Personal Decision Support Systems (PDSS) (Lehman, 1985). Empirical studies regarding personal computing have been of the general field study type, primarily examining trends and/or establishing the basic concept of personal computing. This research builds and empirically tests a research model that conceptualizes some impact variables which are internal to the user, as intervening in the relationship between the situational or external variables identified by previous MIS research and system success (utilization, decision performance, and satisfaction). This study employs a framework, based on Fishbein and Ajzen\u27s intention-behavior model (1975), to integrate variables indicated to be important by previous findings in MIS studies, and to provide a micro-description of how those variables affect success of personal DSS. The conceptual model consists of six independent variables (users\u27 experience and education, enduser tools, end-user support, end-user training, task fepetitiveness, and task analyzability) and their impact on three intermediate variables (attitude, intention, and actual usage) and one dependent variable (user satisfaction). j The methodology employed in this study involves a two-phased cross-sectional field survey of personal DSS users in seven large organizations. To examine the mechanisms by which the independent and intermediate variables affect success, eight hypotheses were investigated using stepwise multiple regression analysis. Three hypotheses were supported. Although the study failed to shed light on how the determinants a//ecf success, it co^irmed the underlying conceptual framework of Fishbein\u27s model

An object-oriented approach to structuring multicriteria decision support in natural resource management problems

Includes bibliographical references.The undertaking of MCDM (Multicriteria Decision Making) and the development of DSSs (Decision Support Systems) tend to be complex and inefficient, leading to low productivity in decision analysis and DSSs. Towards this end, this study has developed an approach based on object orientation for MCDM and DSS modelling, with the emphasis on natural resource management. The object-oriented approach provides a philosophy to model decision analysis and DSSs in a uniform way, as shown by the diagrams presented in this study. The solving of natural resource management decision problems, the MCDM decision making procedure and decision making activities are modelled in an object-oriented way. The macro decision analysis system, its DSS, the decision problem, the decision context, and the entities in the decision making procedure are represented as "objects". The object-oriented representation of decision analysis also constitutes the basis for the analysis ofDSSs

Methodology and Software for Interactive Decision Support

These Proceedings report the scientific results of an International Workshop on "Methodology and Software for Interactive Decision Support" organized jointly by the System and Decision Sciences Program of IIASA and The National Committee for Applied Systems Analysis and Management in Bulgaria. Several other Bulgarian institutions sponsored the workshop -- The Committee for Science to the Council of Ministers, The State Committee for Research and Technology and The Bulgarian Industrial Association. The workshop was held in Albena, on the Black Sea Coast. In the first section, "Theory and Algorithms for Multiple Criteria Optimization," new theoretical developments in multiple criteria optimization are presented. In the second section, "Theory, Methodology and Software for Decision Support Systems," the principles of building decision support systems are presented as well as software tools constituting the building components of such systems. Moreover, several papers are devoted to the general methodology of building such systems or present experimental design of systems supporting certain class of decision problems. The third section addresses issues of "Applications of Decision Support Systems and Computer Implementations of Decision Support Systems." Another part of this section has a special character. Beside theoretical and methodological papers, several practical implementations of software for decision support have been presented during the workshop. These software packages varied from very experimental and illustrative implementations of some theoretical concept to well developed and documented systems being currently commercially distributed and used for solving practical problems