Decision support systems research: Reference disciplines and a cumulative tradition

Abstract

This study applies factor analysis of an author cocitation frequency matrix derived from a database file consisting of a total of 15,030 cited reference records taken from 692 citing articles. Seven informal clusters of decision support systems (DSS) research subspecialties and reference disciplines were uncovered. Four of them represent DSS research subspecialties—foundations, group DSS, model/data management, and individual differences. Three other conceptual groupings define the reference disciplines of DSS—organizational science, multiple criteria decision making, and artificial intelligence. DSS is a very young academic field and is still growing. DSS has just entered the era of growth after 20 years of research. During the 1990s, DSS research will be further grounded in a diverse set of reference disciplines. Furthermore, DSS is in the active process of solidifying its domain and demarcating its reference disciplines. A DSS theory is imminent in the very near future in some area of DSS research such as model management.