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 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 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 byKnowledge-Source Experts

Evaluation byKBS 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

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

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

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 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

Use process tracing method to analyze differences in group decision making processes between experts and novices

Questions & Discussions