An economics perspective on the usefulness of decision support systems

Abstract Decision making in a decision support system is modeled as a sequential information acquisition process with noisy information sources and costly information assimilation. The net benefit from using a Decision Support Systems approach is compared to that from a Programs approach. DSS provides greater benefits for ad-hoc decisions and this advantage increases as the information sources become noisier. Programs are preferred for recurrent decisions. Increased assimilation costs decrease the number of alternatives examined.