Discussion

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The hypotheses testing results suggest the acceptance of the six hypotheses proposed in this study. Top management support, user involvement, and IS maturity were found to influence system effectiveness, measured by user information satisfaction and system use in improving decision making. Although the Egyptian (Arab) cultural characteristics (i.e., power distance, uncertainty avoidance, time perspective) are likely to vary from those of most of the developed countries (i.e., USA and West European countries) (Hofstede, 1980; Kassem & Al-Modaifer, 1987; Ali, 1990; Bjerke and Al-Meer, 1993; Straub et al., 2001), our findings suggest that top management support, user involvement, and IS maturity may be universally relevant to system effectiveness.

These findings are not totally suprising, since some earlier studies reported similarities in a number of IS related issues across developed and developing countries (e.g., Dasgupta et al., 1999; Alkahtani & Meadows, 1999; Ein-Dor & Segev, 1992; Couger et al., 1990; Ropey & Rodriguez-Diaz, 1989). In a study using Indian data, Dasgupta et al. (1999) concluded, although there are differences between developed and developing countries, the factors that influence IT adoption were found to be similar. Alkahtani and Meadows (1999) found similarities between computer-based activities in Saudi Arabia and the UK. Ein-Dor and Segev (1992) found motivation for end-user computing to be of the same magnitude and identically ranked in Israel and the USA. Also, Couger et al. (1990) found motivation factors for programmers and systems analysts to be ranked similarly in Australia, Israel, Singapore, and the USA.

Further, our findings echo one of the generalizations made by Ein-Dor et al. (1993) upon review of the literature on national culture and its implications for international information systems. They concluded, cultural differences seem to have "...a greater impact on the technical and procedural aspects of IS while the behavioral aspects exhibiting greater similarity" (p. 41). Since the findings of this investigation associate with behavioral variables (top management support, user involvement, perceived IS maturity, user satisfaction, and systems use in improving decision making), they appear to transcend the cultural differences between Egypt and the other environments.

The top management support average score is relatively high (4.23), which suggests a high level of support for IS in the sampled Egyptian companies (Table 4). This finding, however, should be carefully interpreted, since top management representation in the sample is approximately 44%. Our sample drew heavily from the top management population, compared to the middle and lower management populations (Table 3). Consequently, the sample may have predisposed the findings for top management support.

Top management support was found to positively associate with the two systems effectiveness measures (user information satisfaction and system use in improving decision making), although it was excluded as a predictor for systems effectiveness in the stepwise regression analysis (Table 6). Since the variance in user information satisfaction and in system use in improving decision making is completely explained by only IS maturity and user involvement, top management support became redundant as a predictor of systems effectiveness.

This redundancy is caused by the multicollinearity that exists among the three independent variables. Top management support has significant relationships with IS maturity (r = .61, p < .01) and with user involvement (r = .26, p < .01), and IS maturity has a significant relationship with user involvement (r = .46, p < .01). As Hair et al. (1998, p.161) explains, regression results must be interpreted carefully since relationships among independent variables "mask" relationships that are not needed for predictive purposes but nevertheless present key findings (i.e., the strong relationships found between top management support and the two measures of systems effectiveness).

The importance of top management support as a determinant of systems effectiveness in the Egyptian companies has been confirmed. The perception of top management support for IS creates user interest and facilitates systems use by indicating 'goal congruence' between organizational tasks and systems use. The results are in agreement with those of many other Western-based studies such as Lucas (1978), Maish (1979), Sanders and Courtney (1985), Jobber and Watts (1981), Raymond (1984), Yap, Soh, and Roman (1992), and Igbaria (1992). However, this finding is in disagreement with those of Fuerst and Cheney (1982), who found top management support to be negatively associated with system success. The users in Fuerst and Cheney's (1982) study, however, were from lower and operational control positions, who rated accuracy and training to be more important than attention and contact with top management.

In particular, the findings of this investigation confirm similar findings from prior research in other developing countries such as Taiwan (e.g., Igbaria, 1992) and South Korea (Lee & Kim, 1992) where top management support was found to positively associate with systems adoption and use. Hence, this study provides additional evidence on the importance of top management support to systems effectiveness in developing countries like Egypt. As such, top management support is influential in helping users utilize information systems and develop a wider selection of the different types of software tools potentially useful in their jobs.

Likewise in Western companies, top management support in Egyptian companies appears to be essential for establishing appropriate IS goals, identifying critical business information needs and allocating sufficient financial resources to achieve such goals (Yap, Soh, & Roman, 1992). Top management buy-in and championship is essential to successful introduction and utilization of new IT in a patriarchal, tribal, and communal society like the Arab (Egyptian) culture (Straub et al., 2001). The guidance provided by top level management plays an important role in improving IS management because top-level management possesses a clear understanding of the organization's mission and goals. In addition, top management support is particularly important in Egyptian companies, where resources—including IS resources—allocation decisions are centrally made, and where lower level managers often look for top managers' directions and approval.

Also, the findings of this investigation confirm the importance of user (manager) involvement in systems development as a determinant of systems effectiveness in Egyptian companies. A significant positive relationship between user involvement and system effectiveness as measured by user information satisfaction and system use in improving decision making was found. They are consistent with those of the Western-based studies of Swanson (1974), Gyampah and White (1993), Tait and Vessey (1988), Baroudi, Olson, and Ives (1986), Guirmaraes, Igbaria, and Lu (1992), and Franz and Robey (1986). Also, our findings are in agreement with those of Robey and Rodriguez-Diaz's (1989) study of Latin America and Sircar and Rao's (1986) study of Singapore. However, our findings are in disagreement with those of Lucas (1975), which showed no significant relationship between user involvement and systems effectiveness, as well as those of Fuerst and Cheney (1982), which indicated that user involvement had a negative correlation with systems use.

Although the respondents in the present study and the previous studies were employed in a variety of manufacturing organizations and held managerial positions in a wide range of functional areas, the primary difference between the present study and most of the previous ones is that user involvement was often referred to as a strict dichotomy between involvement and non-involvement (e.g., Maish, 1979; Tait & Vessey, 1988). In this investigation, user involvement was treated as a multi-dimensional construct, since the frequent use of a single item measurement approach seriously hinders the utilization of user involvement as a plausible construct for explaining systems effectiveness variance. Single item scales do not provide for sufficient content domain sampling of complex construct and are generally unreliable due to the difficulty with their internal consistency coefficients calculations (Klenke, 1992).

The results suggest that users who got involved in the development activities of a system seemed to exhibit greater positive behavior toward the system, which, in turn, increased their information satisfaction. It may be implied that users who held more beliefs concerning systems importance and relevance to their work were likely to have higher perceptions of the usefulness of using the systems in performing their jobs. Further, active participation by Egyptian managers in systems development is likely to develop beliefs that the systems are important and relevant, which, in turn, would influence their use of the systems in improving decision making and increase their level of information satisfaction. Their participation in systems development provides them with an accurate assessment of their information needs and helps them avoid the development of unnecessary features and, thus, creates higher perception of the systems' quality, which in turn promotes higher levels of systems utilization and users' satisfaction.

As to IS maturity, the results of this investigation suggest IS maturity as a strong determinant of systems effectiveness in Egyptian companies. IS maturity was found to have a positive relationship with systems effectiveness, measured by user information satisfaction and system use in improving decision making. Our findings are consistent with the findings of a few prior studies which investigated the relationship between IS maturity and systems effectiveness in Western settings, including Cheney and Dickson's (1982), King and Sabherwal's (1992), Mahmood and Becker's (1985), and Raymond's (1990). The scarcity of empirical evidence related to such relationships and the strong influence of IS maturity on systems effectiveness in the investigated Egyptian companies detected in this study, emphasizes the importance of taking into consideration the organizational context in which systems are introduced and adopted.

As measured in this investigation, IS maturity illustrates the overall status of the IS functions within the sampled companies. Since the IS function in an organization determines the strategies, policies, and technologies that basically condition the use of IT applications, one expects greater systems effectiveness to result from increasing IS maturity (Raymond, 1990). The findings of this investigation suggest that an IS function's ability to design and develop increasingly effective systems depends on its organizational maturity within the investigated Egyptian companies.

IS maturity was also found to be a strong predictor of systems effectiveness in the investigated Egyptian companies. It was found to have a mean of 3.62 and a standard deviation of .74 on a 5-point scale, which reflects an intermediate degree of maturity (Table 4). Further, IS maturity explained 33% of the variance in user information satisfaction and 19% of the variance in systems use in improving decision making (Table 6). These findings should contribute to our understanding of the impact of IS maturity on the individual utilization of IT applications in Egypt.

On the other hand, the contingency analysis suggests IS maturity to have a stronger relationship with user information satisfaction in the public sector (r = .59, p <. 001) than with user information satisfaction in the private sector (r = .57, p < .001). In Egypt, IS functions in the public sector companies are generally more mature than their counterparts in the private sector. Organizational literature suggests a relationship between organizational size and administration innovation, and IS maturity is a subset of such innovation (Lehman, 1985). Compared to private companies, Egyptian public companies are larger, adopted IT applications earlier, and have had more experience with information systems practices and procedures. In fact, the Egyptian private sector has only started to grow and play a serious role in the Egyptian economy after the privatization initiative that started in 1991.

Further, IS organizational units in the Egyptian public sector were found to be generally located at a relatively higher level in the organization, of bigger size, more resourceful, and to use more formal planning and control processes and procedures, compared to their counterparts in the private sector. Therefore, companies in the public sector appear to provide a more compatible environment for effective development and utilization of information systems, and their IS functions appear to attain a higher level of maturity and effectiveness, compared to the private companies.

Finally, the effects of the contingency variables in this study were significant only for user's tenure in the organization and ownership type (public or private). User's tenure in the organization and type of company ownership were found to affect the explained variance in only user information satisfaction as a measure of systems effectiveness. These findings are logical.

Turnover rates among Egyptian managers are relatively low, especially among those who work for the government and the public sector. User's tenure in an organization is expected to help improve their perceptions of the impact of a system on their jobs and responsibilities as well as on their beliefs about management efforts to support the system, to involve users in different phases of systems development, and to make IS mature enough to meet the business needs. The greater the user's tenure, the greater his/her understanding of the critical factors that affect system effectiveness.

The other contingency variable that was found to be significant is ownership type (private or public). The nature of ownership plays a significant role as a contingency variable in explaining systems effectiveness, measured by user information satisfaction, in the Egyptian companies. This is due to the managerial practices, managerial climate, and management systems that are different in the private sector and the public sector (e.g., Bretschneider & Wittmer, 1993; Margetts & Willcocks, 1994). Also, public and private organizations differ in their propensity towards IT assimilation (Aggarwal & Mirani, 1999; Bretschneider & Wittmer, 1993), in their respective capacity to manage IT effectively, and in their IS characteristics (e.g., Thong &Yap, 200; Bretschneider, 1990).



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Advanced Topics in Global Information Management (Vol. 3)
Trust in Knowledge Management and Systems in Organizations
ISBN: 1591402204
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207

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