USER PARTICIPATION IN KNOWLEDGE UPDATE OF EXPERT-SYSTEMS

Applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion we condu cted an experiment to examine the effect of participation of users in the design process on their acceptance of system recommendations and r evision of their original decisions. Results of our study indicate tha t two different types of information processing occur when subjects ar e reviewing the expert system recommendations. (i) For users who have a high perceived level of participation in updating the knowledge of t he ES, ambiguity of the decision setting is the primary determinant af fecting acceptance of the recommendation from the ES. (ii) For users w ho have a low perceived level of participation in updating the knowled ge of the ES, acceptance of system recommendation to revise their orig inal judgment is dependent on the perceived credibility of the experts building the system. we discuss the implications of these findings fo r the design of expert systems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.