Authors
Marton Sakal, Lazar Rakovic, Predrag Matkovic, Pere Tumbas, & Veselin Pavlicevic
Abstract
Empirical researches suggest that errors inevitably accompany spreadsheets, which are nowadays one of most ubiquitous business tools, used to overcome the gaps between functionalities of existing, systematically developed, information systems and new, ad hoc requirements that these systems are faced with.
Spreadsheets are most commonly developed by end users who are not IT experts. End user overconfidence acts as a strong catalyst for spreadsheet errors. Previous studies revealed that end user overconfidence is inversely proportional to users' level of awareness of different types of spreadsheet errors and possibilities of their occurrence.
With reference to results of a study on errors present in spreadsheets used in Serbian SMEs on one hand, and content of spreadsheet related courses within Serbian business oriented universities on the other, this paper emphasizes that not enough attention (if any) was devoted to raising awareness on the potential risks of spreadsheet errors at spreadsheet related university courses.
The paper proposes taxonomy of errors that could be studied as a standard segment of aforementioned courses.
Sample
People tend to be overconfident about the correctness of their own spreadsheets. Respondents perceive their spreadsheets as more accurate, that is, believe that other people's spreadsheets contain more errors of each kind.
Publication
2015, 7th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN 2015), 6-8 July, pages 6054-6059
Full article
Reducing spreadsheet users' overconfidence through business oriented university courses
