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 4. Research Hypotheses 5. Research Design 6. Research Findings 7. Contributions & Future Research

Motivation n Important decision making tasks are usually assigned to small groups n Group effect due to process gains:  more information available  multiple perspectives and approaches  synergetic effects  errors checked and corrected  increased understanding of problem n Groups make better judgments than average individual members in analysis and evaluation tasks (McGrath, 1984; Nah & Benbasat, 1999)

Motivation n Knowledge-based System (KBS) Support benefits group decision making (Nah & Benbasat, 2000) n 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) n 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 n Does the impact of KBS differ between experts and novices in group decision making?

Theoretical Foundation n Social Judgment Theory  Experts tend to be more ego-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

Measurement of Congruence (DV) Knowledge-Source Experts KBS KBS Users Evaluation by Knowledge-Source Experts Evaluation by KBS Users CONGRUENCE Knowledge Acquired from Knowledge-Source Experts KBS Analyses and Explanations

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 Group Judgments Individual Judgments Group Discussion with KBS Support used to assess congruence used to assess group consensus Training: Familiarize with Features of KBS

Subject Characteristics n 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 n Expert subjects (18 subjects = 6 groups of 3)  Professional financial analysts working in financial institutions

Financial Analysis Task n Evaluate financial position, performance, and potential of a company n Determine an appropriate loan amount n 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

Experimental Setup

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 n 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 n First study to offer empirical evidence on effects of KBS support on group decision making n Recognize the importance of explanation facilities in KBS (in another part of this work) n 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 n Integrate persuasion theories into KBS research

Future Research n Investigate the relative importance of KBS analyses and explanations in expert vs. 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 n Use process tracing method to analyze differences in group decision making processes between experts and novices

Questions & Discussions