ABSTRACT:

Research suggests that decision support systems (DSSs) which include well-designed feedback can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of decision making. An unexplored hypothesis in this research is that the type of feedback provided may interact with users' beliefs about the usefulness of feedback to affect decision processes and performance. To investigate this pos- sibility, 84 participants received feedback about either their decision performance or their decision processes in a multiattribute choice task. Prior to making choices, they stated how difficult they believed it would be to use the feedback provided to them. Participants receiving outcome feedback made more accurate choices and had greater self-insight into their decision performance, while participants receiving decision-process feedback had greater self-insight into their decision processes. In addition, joint effects of feedback and expectations of the feedback were observed. The article concludes that designing effective feedback requires jointly considering the type of feedback provided and users' expectations of the feedback. In addition, theories that consider both decision makers' perceptions and the characteristics of the task environment hold the greatest promise for understanding the effects and effectiveness of DSSs.