Decision Support Systems

A review of 22 articles published in MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Management Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Systems Research, and Information and Management indicates that self-reported system use is measured in 11 of the 22 studies. The method frequently comprised two or three questions pertaining to the frequency of use and the amount of time spent using the system. Ten studies do not measure use; that is, use is either mandatory or ignored. Many studies using TAM do not measure system use directly. Instead, these studies measure the variance in self-reported use. It is important to recognize that self-reported use is not a precise measure of system use. Use of omnibus measures such as perceived use/nonuse, duration of use or extent of use to measure the content of an activity may not be effective if a respondent is unclear about the specific part of the usage activity actually being measured. Thus, these perception measures may not be appropriate for measuring system use when the content of the activity is absent. In contrast, rich measures incorporate the nature of the usage activity that involves the three elements of system use - a user, a system, and use of the system to do a task.