Abstract

Information systems (IS) personnel and IS departments have a credibility problem in corporate America. Researchers have looked at the causes and results of these problems, including the IS backlog, problems accounting for payback from the substantial systems investment, and personality or demographic differences between IS personnel and the rest of the firm (Tsui, Egan, & O'Reilly, 1992). With vast sums already in information technology (IT), it is important to understand factors which may affect the efficient utilization of a firm's IT resources. The increasing volume of work conducted via IT makes it vital for firms who want to excel to have a good working relationship between their IS departments and the other functional areas within the firm. This research looks at the interaction of two phenomena as they impact opinions of employees from other functional areas regarding IS personnel and IS departments: the interaction theory of ingroup/outgroup attributions (Hogg & McGarty, 1990) and critical contingency theory. The interaction theory effects are those of individuals from different functional areas congregating and seeking a common ground on which to form group associations (Hogg, 1990). With the moderating variable of critical contingency, we look at the effect of the importance of a functional area to the opinions held about that area

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