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TopSelection Criteria
DSS applications were searched using the online database ABI/INFORM complete, which is available on the web through ProQuest, a premier information access and retrieval system. ABI/INFORM includes thousands of leading English language business and management journals. ProQuest is a key partner for content holders of all types, preserving and enabling access to their rich and varied information. These partnerships have built a growing content collection that now encompasses 90,000 authoritative sources, 6 billion digital pages, and spans six centuries.
As a continuation of previous research (H. B. Eom & Lee, 1990; S. B. Eom, Lee, Kim, & Somarajan, 1998), the same selection criteria used in the previous surveys are used here to compile DSS applications. A “DSS is defined as a computer-based interactive system that supports decision-makers rather than replaces them; utilizes data and models; solves problems with varying degrees of structure: non-structured (unstructured or ill-structured) (Bonczek, Holsapple, & Whinston, 1981), semi-structured (Bennett, 1983; Keen & Scott Morton, 1978), semi-structured and unstructured tasks (Sprague & Carlson, 1982), and structured, semi- structured, and unstructured (Thierauf, 1982)] and focuses on the effectiveness rather than the efficiency of decision processes (facilitating decision processes).”
Using the descriptor, “decision support systems”, a large number of articles (approximately a 7740) were retrieved. Of these, only 80 specific DSS applications are selected for further analysis. The selected DSS applications satisfy the following criteria. They should include the following:
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A description of a semi- or unstructured decision
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A description of the human-computer interface and the nature of the computer-based support for human decision-makers’ intuitions and judgments
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A description of a data-dialogue-model system.
TopAnalysis
The collected 80 specific DSS applications, which were published in 41 journals, are analyzed to examine the development pattern of DSS in the time period of 2002-2012. This paper summarizes the survey results according to the following:
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Area of application
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The year of publication in each area of application
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The distribution of underlying decision support tools in DSSs
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A classification based on Alter’s taxonomy
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The management level (operational, tactical, or strategic) for which the DSS is designed