Do not disturb! trust in decision support systems improves work outcomes under certain conditions

Abstract

Organizations provide their employees with decision support systems (DSS) to facilitate successful decision making. However, the mere provision of a DSS may not be sufficient to facilitate beneficial work outcomes because employees often do not rely on a DSS. Therefore, we examined whether users’ trust in a DSS increases positive effects of DSS provision on several core work outcomes (i.e., performance, well-being, and release of cognitive capacities). Moreover, we examined whether trust effects on these work outcomes depend on specific context conditions (i.e., user accountability, distraction, and market dynamics). We tested our hypotheses in a laboratory experiment with N = 201 participants who received assistance by a DSS in a simulated sales planning scenario. In line with our assumptions, trust in the DSS was positively related to users’ performance and well-being. Moreover, the link between trust and strain as well as release of cognitive capacities were qualified by distraction, so that higher distraction diminished these links. No such moderation occurred for user accountability and market dynamics.