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Knowledge-based Support in a Group Decision Making Context: An Expert-Novice Comparison. Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Izak Benbasat, University of British Columbia. Presentation Outline. 1. Motivation 2. Research Question 3. Theoretical Foundation
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Knowledge-based Supportin a GroupDecision Making Context: An Expert-Novice Comparison Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Izak Benbasat, University of British Columbia
Presentation Outline 1. Motivation 2. Research Question 3. Theoretical Foundation 4. Research Hypotheses 5. Research Design 6. Research Findings 7. Contributions & Future Research
Motivation • Important decision making tasks are usually assigned to small groups • Group effect due to process gains: • more information available • multiple perspectives and approaches • synergetic effects • errors checked and corrected • increased understanding of problem • Groups make better judgments than average individual members in analysis and evaluation tasks (McGrath, 1984; Nah & Benbasat, 1999)
Motivation • Knowledge-based System (KBS) Support benefits group decision making (Nah & Benbasat, 2000) • Knowledge-based technology plays a key role in knowledge management within organizations • Capture and codify knowledge for transfer and shared utilization in organizations (Alavi and Leidner, 1999) • Use of KBS for Group Decision Making • Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) for business planning (Swann, 1988) • The Financial Collaborative (TFC) for financial planning (Sviokla, 1989)
Research Question • Does the impact of KBS differ between experts and novices in group decision making?
Theoretical Foundation • Social Judgment Theory • Experts tend to be moreego-involved and critical than novices in evaluating arguments • Experts are more likely to reject arguments that are different from their own => Experts are less likely than novices 1) to accept KBS recommendations, and 2) to reach true consensus
Knowledge-Source Experts Evaluation by Knowledge-Source Experts Knowledge Acquired from Knowledge-Source Experts KBS CONGRUENCE KBS Analyses and Explanations KBS Users Evaluation by KBS Users Measurement of Congruence (DV)
Research Hypotheses H1: Novices will achieve better congruence in group judgments than experts H2: Novices will reach higher consensus in group judgments than experts
Research Design Individual Judgments Training: Familiarize with Features of KBS Group Discussion with KBS Support Group Judgments used to assess congruence Individual Judgments used to assess groupconsensus
Subject Characteristics • Novice subjects (27 subjects = 9 groups of 3) • Final year undergraduate and MBA students in the business school who were specializing in Accounting or have taken Financial Statements Analysis course • Expert subjects (18 subjects = 6 groups of 3) • Professional financial analysts working in financial institutions
Financial Analysis Task • Evaluate financial position, performance, and potential of a company • Determine an appropriate loan amount • Judgments on a 1-10 scale: • current liquidity, long-term solvency, asset utilization, value of stock as loan collateral, quality of financial and operating management
Research Findings – Quantitative(using Mann-Whitney non-parametric test) H1: Novices achieve better congruence in group judgments than experts (p<.05; supported) H2: Novices reach higher consensus in group judgments than experts (p<.05; supported)
Research Findings – Qualitative • The following observations were made from the expert vs. novice group decision making processes • Experts were more critical of KBS advice and explanations than novices (heightened criticality hypothesis) • Novices relied more heavily on the KBS than experts
Contributions of Research • First study to offer empirical evidence on effects of KBS support on group decision making • Recognize the importance of explanation facilities in KBS (in another part of this work) • Provide better understanding of group decision making by experts vs. novices in KBS-supported scenario • There are few, if any, research on expert vs. novice group decision making • Integrate persuasion theories into KBS research
Future Research • Investigate the relative importance of KBS analyses and explanations in expertvs.novice decision making • According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, KBS analyses are more effective in persuading novices than experts; however, to persuade experts, KBS explanations are necessary • Use process tracing method to analyze differences in group decision making processes between experts and novices