The effects of incorporating compensatory choice strategies in Web-based consumer decision support systems

Given the importance to web retailers of creating satisfying experiences for website consumers, surprisingly little research has been done concerning the effects of Web-based consumer DSS. In this study, we draw on theories of decision making and user satisfaction to develop three realistic Web-based DSS that support different decision strategies, and conducted an experiment to compare them. As we hypothesized, results indicate that the two DSS supporting compensatory strategies (weighted additive or equally weighted), compared to DSS supporting non-compensatory strategies (elimination-by-aspects), were perceived to be more accurate, less effortful, more effective, more satisfactory, and had superior consistency with stated preferences.