Abstract

A recent survey of business executives showed that of 169 decision makers who responded to a survey by the Business Research Group, over fifty percent have either already implemented an internal web site or are in the process of developing such a site (Engler, 1996). These results were similar to those reported in InformationWeek, which showed that 49% of those firms responding to the survey already had direct Internet access for their employees. According to this same survey, this figure is expected to increase to 67% of these same firms by the spring of 1997 with another 10% of the firms testing the viability of such a connectivity policy (Yankelovich, 1996). Gantz (1986) reported that the microcomputer had achieved the same level of penetration into the corporate world (in terms of the percentage of employees with desktop access) in ten years that the telephone required 75 years to achieve. With these systems increasingly tied together in local or wide area networks, it is likely that a comparable level of penetration of Intranet-Based Information System (I-BIS) will occur in an even shorter time span. The rapid proliferation of network communication technology points to a need to measure how and where these systems are being implemented, and what results are being achieved. Recently published reports concerning Intranet-Based Information Systems (I-BIS) have cited return on investment values exceeding 1300% and direct payback time periods of six to twelve weeks (Campbell, 1996). While these systems have already been widely accepted and implemented, scant attention has been paid to rigorous research in relation to users' acceptance and utilization of these systems or the perceived quality of these systems

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