Testing the Seddon Model of Information System Success in an E-Learning Context: Implications for Evaluating DSS

Evaluation of DSS is concerned with analyzing costs and benefits of DSS before and after DSS development and implementation. The unique nature of DSS evaluation is that although some DSS provide substantial cost savings and profit increases, measurements of benefits of DSS have been problematic as quantification of the positive impacts of the improved decision process is difficult. In the early 1990s, DeLone and McLean presented the information systems (IS) success model as a framework and model for conceptualizing and operationalizing IS (including DSS) success. The DM model is one of the widely recognized IS models based on a systematic review of 180 studies which investigated over 100 success measures. An important assumption of the DM model is that it is the model to explain IS success in a voluntary IS use context. Due to the results of many empirical research results which do not support the positive relationship between system use and other constructs, Seddon presents a respecified and extended version of DeLone and McLean's model. We empirically tested the respecified version of the DM IS success model in an e-learning context, which is a strictly involuntary use setting. The paper provides an empirical evidence to support an alternative DSS evaluation model that can replace "system use" as the pivotal element of IS success model, with "perceived usefulness".