Decentralizing decision support systems a field experiment with drug and criminal investigators

摘要

Improving effectiveness in a highly decentralized organization can be elusive. In the case of largely autonomous drug and criminal investigators, working for a state patrol agency, it is extremely difficult. One possible solution was to develop and implement a case progression decision support system (DSS) for decision making support. This paper describes a field experiment undertaken to determine the effectiveness of using a decentralized DSS compared with a centralized one, as well as comparing the decentralized DSS with no formalized decision support system. The field experiment evaluated the investigators' attitudes toward the availability of information, accuracy of information, support in problem identification, perceived usefulness of the system, and its overall effectiveness. Results indicated that there is a significant difference between the participants' attitudes toward availability of information and support in identifying problems. Furthermore, the study showed that either the centralized or the decentralized DSS is considerably more effective than the current approach of not using a DSS at all.