The inclusion of social subsystem costs and benefits in information technology (IT) investment choices has been a difficult problem for IT decision-makers. Past research has shown that although some organizations adequately and consistently consider social subsystem issues when making IT investment decisions, many do not. This demonstrates a discrepancy between prescriptive theory and descriptive evidence. Our study addresses this theory-practice disconnection by investigating which firms, and under what conditions IT investments are likely to follow or violate prescriptions. Data collected from a national sample of 200 firms shed light on the firm and situational factors that affect the consideration of social subsystem issues during the IT investment decision process. The amount of social subsystem disruption associated with the IT in question, the strategic relevance of the IT to the organization, and the firm's continuous-learning culture each have direct or interactive influences on the decision process. Specifically, they impact the consideration of social subsystem costs and benefits for IT investments. Organizational size and industry are unrelated to this facet of decision-making. Overall, the empirical results help us better understand (1) what kinds of IT decisions cause stronger evaluation of social subsystem costs and benefits, (2) what types of firms give the greatest consideration to these issues, and (3) which intangible social subsystem costs or benefits are seen as the most important.
Information technology (IT) investment decisions have traditionally focused on financial or technological issues. Responding to what appears to be a lack of payoff in IT investments, researchers as well as practitioners recently have suggested that traditional valuation analyses are incomplete and have called for additional work to identify "hidden" or seldom-considered costs and benefits. The present paper attempts to improve understanding of a chief source of these hidden costs and benefits: those changes in the social subsystem brought about by a new IT.
The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to explain and predict small business executives' decisions to adopt information technology (IT). These theories were tested in a multiphase field study involving 162 small businesses (25 ≤ n ≤ 200 employees) from a broad set of industries considering a variety of ITs. Results indicate strong support for a decision process based on attitude (perceived positive and negative consequences for the firm), subjective norm (social expectations), and perceived control (resources to overcome obstacles) regarding IT adoption. Additional variables such as firm and individual executive characteristics had no unique effect on adoption decisions. However, as business size increased, so did the importance of expectations from the (social) environment, while the importance of intra-firm consequences and control over potential adoption bathers declined.