| A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the effects of cognitive style and task structure on decision maker performance as measured by decision confidence, time to reach a decision, number of DSS features used and frequency of use of DSS features. Participants were financial managers, controllers, financial analysts and other finance specialists from several business and governmental organizations located in a large southwest metropolitan area and were: classified as analytic or heuristic by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, screened to ensure computer/terminal familiarity, not knowledgeable of the DSS generator used in the study.;The results indicate that cognitive style was not a statistically significant variable for DSS decision making utilizing models developed by the DSS model builders. However, for the sample data, analytics were slightly more confident of their decisions, reached a decision quicker, used slightly fewer DSS features, and had a lower frequency of use of DSS features than heuristic decision makers. Task structure did affect the frequency of use of DSS features. Those assigned to the structured task had a higher, nearly significant, frequency of use than those analyzing the semi-structured task. The interaction of cognitive style and task structure affected decision confidence. Analytic decision makers analyzing the structured task were significantly more confident of their decision than analytics who had been assigned to the semi-structured task.;Two different financially oriented cases, one structured and the other semi-structured, constituted the instruments for task structure. Participants received classroom and "hands on" training in the analysis features of a DSS generator and then conducted an analysis of one of the cases using applicable DSS models that had previously been developed by expert financial analysts/model builders. Forty-seven participants completed all phases of the experiment. |
