An experimental evaluation of GDSS effects on group performance during stakeholder analysis

The authors report the results of an experimental study that compared the effects of two alternatives GDSS (group decision support systems) designs on the performance and attitudes of groups working on stakeholder analysis. A theoretical model was advanced to argue that effective GDSS designs must provide support for both the communication and consensus activities of groups. The two designs were varied in terms of the extent to which they provided support for communication and for consensus activities. The results of the study provided support for the prediction generated from the model. The findings extend the current knowledge of the utility of GDSS for supporting group work, and suggest that superior performance may result when groups are provided with sophisticated GDSS designs