EXAMINING THE CONFLICTING RESULTS OF GDSS RESEARCH

The growing interest in group decision support systems (GDSS) was supp orted by, and gave rise to, a burgeoning academic literature on GDSS d uring the 1980s. However, GDSS research is now rare. One possible reas on is the difference between field experience and many experimental st udies. Another reason is that GDSS research over the past years mainly focused on decision rooms. The important question posed is: what are the reasons for the conflicting results of GDSS research? The contradi ctory findings among GDSS studies are indeed a problem if academic res earch is to be applied effectively in business settings. Now that grou p collaborative support is becoming more widespread, it is natural to wish to achieve a better understanding of the implications for organiz ations in their adoption of GDSS. Thus, this study systematically revi ews existing GDSS studies and explores the probable reasons for incons istent findings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.