Today, more than ever before, organizations are faced with the task of processing volumes of information under more uncertain and more competitive environments. This study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty and task characteristics on user satisfaction with data by using IS and organizational theories. Responses were matched from 77 CEOs and 166 senior managers, who were end users of IS. The partial least squares technique indicated that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on task characteristics. Task characteristics have a direct and mediating impact on user satisfaction with data. Our findings also demonstrated that user satisfaction with data could be better understood by overlapping IS and organizational theories, rather than by treating the subject matter in disjoint fields. The paper concludes with discussions and implications for researchers and practitioners.
Recently, despite huge incentives and subsequent increases in investment in customer relationship management technology, many firms have not been able to increase their customer satisfaction index ratings. The purpose of this paper is to gauge whether IT management practices differ among firms where IT has a major role in transforming marketing, operations, or both, which give the firms advantage by affecting their customer service. Several research hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a survey of 213 IT-leaders in the financial services industry. The results clearly indicate that the IT-leader firms have a higher level of IT management sophistication and a higher role for their IT-leaders compared to IT-enabled customer focus, IT-enabled operations focus, and IT-laggard firms. This paper concludes with the implications for both researchers and practitioners.
Despite the ever increasing importance of information technology (IT) in firms, the extent to which IT management practices are applied creatively to critical tasks varies widely across firms. For over a decade, firms have employed IT steering committees to manage their IT resources. However, the impacts of such committees on the IT management function have not been examined in depth. This paper hypothesized relationships between the level of sophistication of IT steering committees and level of IT sophistication of management within firms, and tested those relationships empirically via a field survey of 213 IT managers in the financial services industry. Results of the study suggest that presence and roles of IT steering committees are significantly related to the level and nature of IT management sophistication within firms. Firms interested in achieving the most benefit from their steering committees should carefully select their preferred roles depending on the type and the level of IT management sophistication desired. The article concludes with discussion and implications for IT researchers and firms' executives.
Recently the globalization of competition has caused many firms in the financial services industry to integrate their information systems. Based on a selective review of literature from strategic and information management disciplines, a model is developed to study the firms' strategic response to Europe 1992 and Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreements. According to a survey of 213 managers, this study finds that competitive strategy, information technology (IT) maturity and size influence firms' perceived increase in IT investment. Further, this study finds that the degree of IT integration within firms is a primary determinant of firms' willingness to use IT as part of their strategic response to globalization. It suggests that the new competitive strategies will be increasingly technology-based global initiatives that are affected by the firms' IT maturity.
Today's firms are faced with new competitive and technological challenges. As a consequence, many senior executives are looking for information technology (IT) leaders who not only can understand technology but also can comprehend technology's potential to affect business strategy. For the IT leaders, rising to such numerous, and often conflicting, challenges is not easy. Indeed, there is a higher than average corporate dismissal rate and shorter tenure for IT leaders compared with other top executives. Based on the responses from 213 IT leaders in the financial services industry, this study found that the rank and role of a firm's IT leader must be aligned with the firm's competitive strategy. The implications of the findings for the firms' executives, as well as researchers, are discussed in detail.
The structure and dimensionality of the user information satisfaction (UIS) construct is an important theoretical issue that has received considerable attention. Building upon the work of Bailey and Pearson (1983), Ives et al. (1983) conduct an exploratory factor analysis and recommend a 13-item instrument (two indicators per item) for measuring user information satisfaction. Ives et al. also contend that UIS is comprised of three component measures (information product, EDP staff and services, and user knowledge or involvement). In a replication using exploratory techniques. Baroudi and Orlikowski (1988) confirm the three factor structure and support the diagnostic utility of the three factor model. Other researchers have suggested a need for caution in using the UIS instrument as a single measure of user satisfaction; they contend that the instrument's three components measure quite different dimensions whose antecedents and consequences should be studied separately. The acceptance of UIS as a standardized instrument requires confirmation that it explains and measures the user information satisfaction construct and its components. Based on a sample of 224 respondents, this research uses confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL) to test alternative models of underlying factor structure and assess the reliability and validity of factors and items. The results provide support for a revised UIS model with four first-order factors and one second-order (higher-order) factor. To cross-validate these results, the authors reexamine two data sets, including the original Baroudi and Orlikowski data, to assess the revised UIS model. The results show that the revised model provides better model-data fit in all three data sets. Thus, the evidence supports the use of: (1) the 13-item instrument as a measure of an overall UIS; and (2) four component factors for explaining the UIS construct.