The Value of Distrust in Computer-Based Decision-Making Groups

Abstract

We present a creative approach to improve the effectiveness of decision-making groups in solving nonroutine problems by introducing increased distrust into the group. Our theory is proposed through an extension and empirical test of Schul et al.’s [1] distrust model in an online group decision-making domain. We find that an increase in distrust among group members led to an increase in group decision accuracy for nonroutine problems. This demonstrates that through a distrust stimulus, members of decision-making groups can better solve nonroutine problems. This paper also demonstrates how simple environmental abnormalities can increase distrust and trust in computer-based decision-making groups. Various trust- and distrust-related measures were also tested and validated to further research in this area.