Abstract

Delivering IT-business value from IT investments has been the focus of IT professionals and researchers for decades. For instance, IT investment consumes a substantial amount of organisational resources, IT investment can be relatively high risk in nature, possibly adversely impacting on organisations if not being managed adequately, and the rapid progress of IT has opened new business opportunities as well as new business threats. Given these reasons, IT investment, therefore, requires careful consideration by organisations. Based on contingency theory, this study examines a potential factor which may influence the effectiveness of IT investment governance, namely, IT investment goals. This study uses results of a survey of 231 participants from senior-level management within Australian organisations to examine hypothesized relationships between IT investment goals and IT investment governance. This study found organisations with more focused goals for IT investments were significantly positively related with higher levels of IT investment governance.

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The Influence of IT Investment Goals on IT Investment Governance: A Contingency Perspective

Delivering IT-business value from IT investments has been the focus of IT professionals and researchers for decades. For instance, IT investment consumes a substantial amount of organisational resources, IT investment can be relatively high risk in nature, possibly adversely impacting on organisations if not being managed adequately, and the rapid progress of IT has opened new business opportunities as well as new business threats. Given these reasons, IT investment, therefore, requires careful consideration by organisations. Based on contingency theory, this study examines a potential factor which may influence the effectiveness of IT investment governance, namely, IT investment goals. This study uses results of a survey of 231 participants from senior-level management within Australian organisations to examine hypothesized relationships between IT investment goals and IT investment governance. This study found organisations with more focused goals for IT investments were significantly positively related with higher levels of IT investment governance.