ABSTRACT: Decision support systems (DSS) are increasingly being utilized in decision-making situations. However, little is known about why some managers are able to use a DSS effectively and others are not. While numerous factors could affect a manager's use of a DSS, this paper reports the results of an experiment designed to measure two of them: type of training received and cognitive style. A controlled laboratory experiment with pretest and posttest measures was conducted using 63 managers to determine how the type of training and the cognitive styles of managers affected their use of a DSS generator. Analysis of the results shows that there is an interaction between cognitive style and type of training which affected the manager's initial use of a DSS generator. It appears that providing managers with the appropriate type of training should increase the chances for more effective DSS usage.
Key words and phrases: decision support systems, training, cognitive style, decision process attributes