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Technology-driven and model-driven approaches to group decision support: focus, research philosophy, and key concepts

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European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

There are (at least) two distinct traditions within group decision support: what we will call the ‘Technology-driven’ tradition, which originates in the Information Systems discipline, and what we will call the ‘Model-driven’ tradition, which originates in OR/MS. Although proponents of the two traditions share many of the same objectives, in the past there has been little communication between the two groups. In this paper, we describe the basic distinction between the two traditions in terms of two primary themes: research focus (i.e., what the researchers find of interest) and research philosophy and methodology (i.e., how researchers go about studying their chosen subject matter); and we trace these implications of these differences through the key concepts of each tradition. We conclude by arguing that there are many opportunities for synergy between the two traditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, Strathclyde, UK

    Alec Morton, Fran Ackermann & Valerie Belton

Authors
  1. Alec Morton
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  2. Fran Ackermann
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  3. Valerie Belton
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Correspondence to Alec Morton.

Additional information

Submitted February 2001; the paper was with the authors 15 months for two revisions

Appendix A: Reference map for key texts

Appendix A: Reference map for key texts

The matrix shows how which texts on the horizontal axis are referenced by which texts on the vertical axes.

‘Y’ means a reference exists, ‘N’ means no reference exists, ‘YX’ means a reference exists to an earlier version or edition. Since papers cannot reference themselves, the diagonal of the matrix is filled by X's. References within the two traditions are shown by black print on a white background; references between traditions are shown by white print on a black background.

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Table 5 Table a2
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1Some authors refer to an alternative version of this paper, published as Pinsonneault A and Kraemer KL (1989) The impact of technological support on groups: an assessment of the empirical research. Decision Support Systems 5, 197–219.

2Nunamaker refers to an earlier version of this paper, published as Fjermestad J and Hiltz SR (1997) Experimental studies of group decision support systems: an assessment of variables studies and methodology. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Vol II, pp 45–53, Maui, HI.

3Eden and Ackermann, and Bryant refer to an earlier edition of this book, published as Friend J and Hickling A (1987). Planning Under Pressure: The Strategic Choice Approach. Pergamon, Oxford.

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Morton, A., Ackermann, F. & Belton, V. Technology-driven and model-driven approaches to group decision support: focus, research philosophy, and key concepts. Eur J Inf Syst 12, 110–126 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000455

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