Journal of Information Technology

User participation is usually discussed in the context of internal systems. This study places participation in an inter-organizational context where the intended users are outside the sponsoring organization. This paper uses case evidence to investigate whether factors identified in the user participation literature as contingency factors for participation are also associated with participation in the development of inter-organizational systems. It was found that previously identified factors are not predictors of participation or non-participation in the inter-organizational context. Instead, the case evidence suggests that the underlying reason for development of such systems was associated with participation or non-participation by intended users from outside the sponsoring organization.

In this paper we argue that electronic data interchange (EDI) should not be viewed simply as a technological infrastructure, but as a technology which may enable an organization taking a strategic view to derive comparative advantage from utilizing it as part of a process of business re-engineering – in other words, as a sociotechnical entity. We suggest that strategic information systems planning (SISP) is a suitable superstructure within which EDI implementation may be considered from an appropriate strategic, as opposed to tactical, perspective. Finally we describe the theory and current practice of SISP and present guidelines for its application in relation to EDI.

The assessment of the anticipated benefits of new information systems (IS) is important to IS planning. A study of the anticipated benefits of 178 projects as seen by IS managers and analysts revealed nine benefit factors. Business redesign emerged as the most important benefit. Some benefits are much more highly quantified than others. Organizations planned to spend more on projects whose top benefit was workforce reduction. Researchers can use these findings to study why and how organizations achieve the benefits of some proposals. Chief information officers can use them to help deliver new systems that better meet top management's expectations.

In a study involving 88 companies., the nature of the linkages between business strategy and information technology (IT) responsiveness was explored. The results indicate that variations in IT–strategy responsiveness, measured by the extent to which IT is explicitly considered in business strategy formulation, are linked to the type of business strategy being pursued by the organization. For example, IT is more responsive to business strategy in organizations which place heavy emphasis on innovation in their product and market strategies than in those which operate in a relatively stable product/market area. This implies that organizations with an aggressive business strategy are more likely than those with a conservative business strategy to explicitly consider IT as a strategic resource in formulating business strategy. This paper suggests that the extent to which IT is used to shape business strategy differs among organizations, and that business strategy can help us understand these differences.

A survey of the information systems (IS) sophistication of small to medium sized UK manufacturing firms is reported. The survey revealed that manufacturing firms exhibited an intermediate degree of IS sophistication. Typically they were situated in the ‘contagion’ and ‘control’ stages of Nolan's stages of growth model, although a minority of firms were significantly more advanced. Organizational size was found to influence the degree of IS sophistication with larger firms manifesting a more highly developed information processing capacity. The influence of a number of factors on project success was investigated. Companies using their own formal methodologies for software development achieved higher than average rates of success. The degree of awareness of the strategic potential of IT was also positively correlated with success.

A prerequisite for conducting sound academic research in information systems is to understand the research process – how to identify a suitable research problem, how to create a theoretical conjecture and hypotheses, how to collect data and how to test and analyse them. An appreciation of these issues is essential before any professional research may be conducted either for general academic publication or for a higher degree. This paper discusses, in general terms, the nature of academic research and how the scientific method is used in practice. It identifies three major categories of research and explains the steps which the research needs to follow if a claim is to be made that a significant addition has been made to the collection of knowledge. Easy to follow flow charts showing the necessary stages in the research process are supplied.