MIS Quarterly, 1986, Volume 10,
Issue 2, Page 179-187.
Tills article reports the findings of a field study of personal computing in 173 U.S. companies. It identifies trends over the last five years in the use of personal computing as well as the corporate MIS departments' roles, policies, and practices with regard to personal computing. A prioritized checklist of personal computing problems shows lack of user education, lack of a company-wide perspective on the use of personal computers, and overwhelming demands on MIS departments at the top in terms of problem intensity. This article reports on a field study of personal computing trends and problems in a cross-section of U.S. businesses. Previous studies have provided snapshot views of the state of personal computing at specific points in time, usually using a case study approach [e.g., 7]; have compared personal computing with mainframe-based end-user computing, emphasizing differences in the types of users and applications [1]; or have examined the role of corporate MIS in managing end-user computing in general [1, 9] and personal computing in particular [4, 5, 6]. This study tracks trends in several aspects of personal computing over the last five years in addition to developing a checklist of personal computing problems. It is felt that the approach used in this study leads to a better understanding of the process of adoption and the evolution of personal computing as providing a clearer focus on the most crucial personal computing problems.
Keywords: information centers; information management; MIS planning; Personal computing