Abstract
This chapter extends an earlier benchmark study (Sean B. Eom, 1995) which examined the intellectual structure, major themes, and reference disciplines of decision support systems (DSS) over the last two decades (1960-1990). Factor analysis of an author cocitation matrix over the period of 1990 through 1999 extracted 10 factors, representing 6 major areas of DSS research: group support systems, DSS design, model management, implementation, and multiple criteria decision support systems and five contributing disciplines: cognitive science, computer supported cooperative work, multiple criteria decision making, organizational science, and social psychology. We have highlighted several notable trends and developments in the DSS research areas over the 1990s.
TopData And Research Method
The data for this study were gathered from a total of 984 articles in the DSS area over the past ten years (1990-1999) using the criteria described in our earlier study. The number of citing articles can be an indicator of vitality of the DSS area. During the past 10 years, DSS researchers have published 984 articles at an average rate of 98.4 articles per year, while the previous two decades (1969-1990) had published a total of 632 articles at an average rate of 31.6 articles per year.
The raw cocitation matrix of 171 authors is analyzed by the factor analysis program of SAS (statistical analysis systems) to ascertain the underlying structure of DSS research subspecialties. Principal component analysis (varimax rotation) with the latent root criterion (eigenvalue 1 criterion) is applied to obtain the initial solution of 15 factors (see Table 1). The scree tail test indicates that only the first twelve factors should be qualified. For further details of author cocitation analysis including the statistical method used, readers are referred to Eom (Sean B. Eom, 2003).