Fact or Fiction? A Sensemaking Perspective on the Reality Behind Executives' Perceptions of IT Business Value.

Author List: Tallon, Paul P.; Kraemer, Kenneth L.;

Journal of Management Information Systems, 2007, Volume 24, Issue 1, Page 13-54.

Although research has made significant strides in recent years in evaluating the performance impacts from information technology (IT), a dearth of easily accessible objective measures, particularly at the process level, continues to limit IT research. Suggestions that researchers use perceptual measures instead are met with claims that the biased nature of perceptions renders them imperfect proxies for the true extent of IT impacts. In this paper, we use sensemaking theory to explore this claim. We outline a model relating what executives notice about process-level IT impacts with sensemaking-based perceptions of IT impacts at the firm level, and firm performance as the ultimate arbiter of perceptual accuracy. Estimating the model with survey data from executives in 196 firms, we find that executives' perceptions are more fact than fiction. While perceptions are not a perfect proxy for hard-to-find objective measures, perceptual accuracy should stimulate greater consideration of executives' perceptions in future IT business value research.

Keywords: executive perceptions;business value of information technology;IT organizational impacts;IT value measurement;objective measures;perceptual measures;PLSGraph;process orientation;sense making;value chain

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#275	0.328	perceptions attitudes research study impacts importance perceived theory results perceptual perceive perception impact relationships basis significant positive reported common individuals
#68	0.164	business units study unit executives functional managers technology linkage need areas information long-term operations plans mission large understand knowledge current
#114	0.160	performance firm measures metrics value relationship firms results objective relationships firm's organizational traffic measure market study improve accounting measuring aggregate
#282	0.082	power perspective process study rational political perspectives politics theoretical longitudinal case social rationality formation construction shows multiple instead understanding fact
#222	0.072	research researchers framework future information systems important present agenda identify areas provide understanding contributions using literature studies paper potential review