Abstract
This paper describes an empirical study comparing two competing perspectives for explaining information technology (IT) penetration in organizations. IT penetration is defined as the extent to which IT is embedded within an organization's strategic, managerial, and operational work systems. With the first perspective, IT penetration is hypothesized to be related to the implementation of a comprehensive set of management processes for the information systems (IS) function. With the second perspective, IT penetration is hypothesized to be related to the effectiveness of IT-related interactions among an organization's managers, To strengthen the study's research design, the hypotheses are examined separately across two samples of organizations. Senior ]S executives completed the study's research instrument. Respondents in the first sample represented 132 large organizations across a variety of industries, while the respondents in the second sample represented 44 business units within a large, high teChnology firm. IT penetration and IT-related managerial interactions were measured at a subunit level, while IS management processes were measured at an organizational level. The study's findings supported the research hypotheses. *The authors wish to thank Omar El Sawy and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
Recommended Citation
Zmud, Robert W.; Boynton, Andrew C.; and Jacobs, Gerry C., "AN EXAMINATION OF MANAGERIAL STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PENETRATION IN ORGANIZATIONS" (1987). ICIS 1987 Proceedings. 36.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1987/36