Research Article
A Study on Contextual Determinants of Organizational Information Technology Management Issue Selection
Published: January 1996 · Vol. 25, No. 2 · pp. 137-169
Full Text
Abstract
This study recognizes that most research on information technology issue selection has been limited to simple ranking comparisons based on importance or studies of issue selection based on managers' perceptions, and proposes and tests a conceptual framework suggesting that information technology issue selection varies according to contingency factors. Specifically, the study presents hypotheses that information technology issue selection varies depending on the degree of competition in the organization's business environment, the internal capability of information systems processing level, and the additive effects of these two variables, and analyzes how the selection of information technology management factors differs according to these patterns. Data were collected from information systems managers of 104 domestic companies in manufacturing, finance, distribution, construction, and other industries. The analysis results showed that among the 30 major issues in Korea, the most important issues selected were information systems strategic planning, systems integration, databases, work standardization, and planning and implementation of communication systems. Through factor analysis using Varimax rotation and reliability analysis of the 30 major information technology issues, five factors were identified: information systems planning, enhancement of organizational information capability, strategic utilization of information technology, distributed processing, and utilization of communication networks. When examining differences in information technology management issue selection according to the degree of competition and information systems level using these five factors, the selection of information technology management factors showed significant differences according to the degree of organizational competition, while the selection of information technology management factors according to information systems processing level and the additive effects of the two variables was found to vary only partially depending on the factor.
