The Effects of IT Centralization and Organizational Structure on the Performance of Information System

정보기술의 집중화와 조직 구조가 정보시스템 성과에 미치는 영향

  • Published : 1999.12.31

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the centralization of information technology activities and the organizational structures, especially the centralization of decision making and the complexity have any effects on the information systems performance. The strategic types, the formalization dimension of organizational structures, and the industrial characteristics, which might have impacts on the dependent variables were controlled. Information systems performance was measured by both user satisfaction and organizational performance. To achieve the research objective, a field study using the structured questionnaires was employed. Thirty large companies participated in this study. Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the data collected. Findings of this study are summarized as follows: The centralization of IT activities, the centralization of decision making, the complexity of organizational structure and the interaction effects among these independent variables all turned out to have statistically significant effects on the user satisfaction, while not on the organizational performance. The implication of these findings is that the IT structure must be determined in congruence with the organizational structures and vice versa. One weakness of this study is that the strategic type was not an independent variable but a controlled variable. Further study of using the strategic type as an independent variable with more sample corporations is to be encouraged.

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