Examing Approaches and addressing the nesting challenge in Decision Support Systems.

The decision support systems (DSS) research literature within Information Systems (IS) is riddled with various overlapping definitions and approaches. Through an extensive literature review, this paper identifies key definitions, dimensions, and trends in the DSS literature and provides a unified classification. Based on the identified constructs, we identify a nesting challenge in DSS defined as the oversaturation of DSS approaches that occurs by continuously creating new approaches to cover specific
use cases. We also argue that not all DSS approaches are comparable, as they address different aspects of decision support systems, with some defining application areas, while others focus on the technique or technology used. Through a discussion of the literature and the nesting classification, the paper draws on conceptual dimensions from business analytics (BA) research to define DSS approaches as domain-specific or technique-specific. From this point of departure, this paper calls for further research on integrating BA and DSS to enrich the application of DSS approaches in design and implementation. This literature review contributes to IS literature by showcasing a new perspective to create coherence within the DSS discipline.