Task Complexity and Informing Science: A Synthesis

Introduction The driving force behind the creation of informing environments and delivery systems is that a task needs to be accomplished. (Cohen, 1999) The concept of a task is central to the Informing Sciences (IS). As the driving force in the development of informing systems, the role played by task is of particular significance to the individuals responsible for developing such systems, since better insights into the task to be accomplished should improve their understanding of the resources that will be required. In this context, task complexity appears to be a particularly important characteristic. The construct is widely used in the behavioral sciences to explore the relationship between task characteristics and cognitive activities. It is hypothesized to be: 1. A determinant of the information processing and cognitive load that will be required in order to perform a task (Benbasat & Todd, 1996; Campbell, 1988). 2. An objective basis for determining compensation for a task (e.g., Auster, 1989). 3. A key determinant of task performer intrinsic motivation, satisfaction and goal acceptance (e.g, Beer, 1968; Jimmieson & Terry, 1999; Seybolt, 1976; Wood, Mento & Locke, 1987) 4. An important determinant of the general and specific knowledge required in order to perform a task (Wood, 1986) 5. An important determinant of appropriate training method for a given task (Bolt, Killough, & Koh, 2001) 6. A critical factor in the selection of decision-making strategies and information seeking behaviors (e.g., March & Simon, 1958; Payne, 1976; Vakkari, 1999) 7. A variable impacting the appropriate method for displaying information in order to achieve effective decision-making (Speier & Morris, 2003) 8. A factor determining the value of data quality information in data warehousing situations (Fisher, Chengalur-Smith, & Ballou, 2003) Given that the coming of the "information age" is being accompanied by a transition from physical work to "'knowledge work" (Drucker, 1989), and that discontinuous change (Handy, 1990) and high-velocity environments (Bourgeois & Eisenhardt, 1988) are leading to dramatic changes in the nature of tasks and jobs being performed, it is reasonable to anticipate that the potential value of being able to predict how abstract task characteristics will influence the intended task-completion system (Cohen, 1999) should grow correspondingly. Given both task complexity's importance in the behavioral literature and its integral relationship to information processing activities, it is somewhat surprising that the construct has not been used more extensively in the informing sciences. With few exceptions (e.g., Handzic, 2001), most of the research in the area has been situated in the field of management information systems (MIS). Even there, its use has been limited to a rapidly growing a number of studies that have used the construct as an independent variable (e.g., Barki, Rivard, & Talbot, 1993; Blili, Raymond, & Rivard, 1998; Bolt, et al., 2003; Fisher, et al., 2003; Gill, 1996; Jacko & Salvendi, 1996; Kishore, Agrawal, & Rao, 2004; Liao & Palvia, 2000; Mascha, 2001; Mykytyn & Green, 1992; Roberts, Cheney, Sweeney, & Hightower, 2004; Speier & Morris, 2003; Swink & Speier, 1999; ) in the prediction of some other outcome. There are also examples of research that employ MIS-related tasks as part of general investigations of the construct (e.g., Campbell & Gingrich, 1986). What is notably absent from the IS literature is a systematic examination of the nature of the construct. As the present paper will demonstrate, such an examination is long overdue--as it is hard to imagine any other construct could equal task complexity in terms of the level of ambiguity and internal inconsistency achieved over the years. Applying task complexity to IS situations has been made even more difficult by the way the construct has commonly come to be defined. …