The roles of user motivation to perform a task and decision support system (DSS) effectiveness and efficiency in DSS use

The purposes of this study are to: (1) obtain measures of actual decision support system (DSS) use that include the three elements of DSS use proposed by Burton-Jones and Straub (Burton-Jones, A., & Straub, D.W., Jr., (2006). Reconceptualizing system usage: An approach and empirical test. Information Systems Research, 17(3), 228–246), and (2) identify an important psychological construct – a user’s motivation to perform a task – and examine how it interacts with two DSS characteristics – effectiveness and efficiency – to affect actual DSS use. As predicted, the findings indicated that individuals who used a more effective DSS to work on a task that they were motivated in increased usage of the DSS, while DSS use did not differ between individuals who used either a more or less effective DSS to complete a task that they were less motivated in. The results also showed significant difference for two measures of DSS use (i.e., STEP and TIME) and no significant difference for one measure of DSS use (i.e., USE) between individuals who used either a more or less efficient DSS to perform a task that they were more motivated in. As expected, significant differences were found for individuals who used either a more or less efficient DSS to complete a task that they were less motivated in. Finally, the results showed that DSS use increased when perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the DSS were high; therefore, these results corroborate the findings of prior research in the context of actual DSS use.