Decision Quality, Confidence, and Commitment with Expert Systems: An Experimental Study

This experiment investigates the relationship between results produced by an expert system (ES), its physical structure and features, and the user's commitment and confidence in its solutions. One hundred one subjects among four MPA programs were asked to evaluate ten applicants for a government budget officer position. Among the findings: decision makers who utilized the ES made higher quality decisions but exhibited less confidence and commitment than did those who worked without an ES; decision-maker involvement in the decision process corrected for this disparity. We discuss the implications for ES design and future research.