Abstract

This thesis discusses the role of affect in users' assessment of a collaborative system. A web-based multi-attribute group decision support system (iMade) is developed that is characterized by both its adaptability for a variety of decision-making situations, and the resulted utility due to applying design science principles in constructing this artifact. We present findings of a controlled experiment designed to assess influence of affect and various other factors on adoption of information systems using a research model based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Although many researchers have extended the TAM model and studied various antecedents of using that system, no one has systematically studied the effect of group members' behavior and their interaction with one another on the evaluation of the system that they are engaged in. It is hypothesized that the system features by themselves are not the sole factors that affect the users' perception and their intention to use it; but, group interactions play an important role in the user's perceptions of the system (Etezadi-Amoli and Kersten, 2008, Etezadi, 2010). To test this phenomenon, a group decision problem was developed and an experiment was carried out using the iMade system. Thirty subjects assumed the role of three groups of stakeholders and negotiated along with two experimenters as a group, with the task of purchasing a fleet of taxicab; the experimenters were required to induce either positive or negative affect within the group. Analysis of the data clearly shows that group affect significantly influences users evaluation of the system