Tamara K. Kowalczyk
Western Washington University
Abstract: This study investigates the effect of recommendations from an intelligent decision aid on effort expended by users in reaching and justifying an audit judgment. The key experimental manipulations are the receipt and non-receipt of aid recommendations, and scope of evidence offered in making a decision. Results indicate that aid users who received recommendations produced significantly fewer comments justifying their decisions than both unaided subjects and users not receiving recommendations. Additionally, offering evidence that conflicts with a system recommendation does not increase effort among those receiving recommendations. These results indicate that the act of receiving a recommendation from an intelligent decision aid reduces effort expended in justifying a decision, even where subsequent evidence conflicts with the aid. An important implication is that the receipt of decision aid recommendations may contribute to deficiency in decision justification, which if accompanied by judgment error, would be difficult to detect through the managerial review process.
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