Jon Hartwick

Measuring user participation, user involvement, and user attitude

Defining user participation as the activities performed by users during systems development, user involvement as the importance and personal relevance of a system to its user, and user attitude as the affective evaluation of a system by the user, this study aims to: (1) develop separate measures of user participation, user involvement, and user attitude, (2) identify key dimensions of each construct, and (3) investigate the relationships among them. Responses from users in organizations developing new information systems were used to create an overall scale measuring user participation (along with three subscales reflecting the dimensions of responsibility, user-IS relationship, and hands-on activities), an overall scale measuring user involvement (along with two subscales reflecting the dimensions of importance and personal relevance), and a scale measuring user attitude. Analysis of the data provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the three constructs and their dimensions. User participation has long been considered a key variable in the successful development of information systems. However, past research has failed to clearly demonstrate its benefits. The measures developed in this study provide a useful starting point for deciphering the precise nature of the relationship among user participation, involvement, and attitude during systems implementation.

Rethinking the concept of user involvement

Within the field of information systems, user involvement generally refers to participation in the systems development process by potential users of their representatives and is measured as a set of behaviors or activities that such individuals perform. This article argues for a separation of the constructs of user participation (a set of behaviors or activities performed by users in the system development process) and user involvement (a subjective psychological state reflecting the importance and personal relevance of a system to the user). Such a distinction is not only more consistent with conceptualizations of involvement found in other disciplines, but it also leads to a number of new and interesting hypotheses. These hypotheses promise a richer theoretical network that describes the role and importance of participation and involvement in the implementation process.

Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development

Researchers from a wide range of management areas agree that conflicts are an important part of organizational life and that their study is important. Yet, interpersonal conflict is a neglected topic in information system development (ISD). Based on definitional properties of interpersonal conflict identified in the management and organizational behavior literatures, this paper tests a model of how individuals participating in ISD projects perceive interpersonal conflict and examines the relationships between interpersonal conflict, management of the conflict, and ISD outcomes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 265 IS staff and 272 users working on 162 ISD projects. Results indicated that the construct of interpersonal conflict was reflected by three key dimensions: disagreement, interference, and negative emotion. While conflict management was found to have positive effects on ISD outcomes, it did not substantially mitigate the negative effects of interpersonal conflict on these outcomes. In other words, the impact of interpersonal conflict was perceived to be negative, regardless of how it was managed or resolved.

User Participation, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution: The Mediating Roles of Influence

User participation has long been considered a key ingredient in information system development ISD. However, research has generally failed to clearly demonstrate the benefits of user participation. A better description of interpersonal processes which occur during system development could be used to help explain the weak results. The present study builds upon the work of Robey and his colleagues Robey and Farrow 1982, Robey et al. 1989, Robey et al. 1993, who examined user participation, influence, conflict, and conflict resolution during ISD. Results obtained in a field study of 74 IS projects suggest the following four conclusions: i conflict is best represented and measured as a multidimensional construct; ii the relationship between user participation and conflict is more complex than previously believed; iii influence has a dual role in the emergence of conflict; and iv influence plays a key role in the satisfactory resolution of conflict.

The impact of automated office systems on middle managers and their work

A survey of seventy-five Montreal middle managers was conducted, investigating their perceptions of the impact of automated office systems on their jobs and work. Two key findings emerged in the results. First, middle managers perceived that office automation had led to a variety of changes that, almost without exception, made their jobs and work more enriching and satisfying. Second, middle managers with first-hand experience with various systems, either through the presence of such systems in their organization or through their own personal use of such systems, were even more positive than managers without this exposure. The importance of these findings is discussed in the context of related work drawn from the fields of psychology and organizational behavior.

Communication as a dimension of user participation

User participation is defined as the extent to which users or their representatives carry out assignments and perform various activities and behaviors during the system development process. This work has identified three dimensions of user participation: responsibility, the user-IS (information system) relationship and hands-on activity. However, this 3D view of user participation does not capture an important aspect of participation: the communication between users and with various stakeholders. This paper replicates and extends past research by proposing the addition of a fourth dimension: communication activity. Data collected from 324 users drawn from 162 IS development teams were used to replicate our three dimensions and to examine evidence for the construct validity of the new dimension. Consistent with expectations, strong evidence was found suggesting that communication activity needs to be considered as a fourth dimension of user participation.

How to detect a management fad—and distinguish it from a classic

any popular administrative ideas are epito-mized by a search for the quick fix—a sim-ple solution that all organizations canembrace to make employees more productive, customershappier, or profits greater. Although some companies areprofoundly transformed by these ideas, many are merelygrazed by them. The notions do not serve the core busi-ness, or are embraced ritualistically without having anyprofound effect on performance or any other desired out-comes. Before long, the fad is forgotten and the firm isleft with the human costs of disappointment and thefinancial costs of fruitless implementation. Frequently,fads can have a lasting destructive influence as a practiceis embraced that alienates employees or triggers anabortive reorganization. Downsizing and reengineering,for example, have often demoralized the workforce androbbed firms of vital talent.To help managers identify such potentially dangeroustrends, we undertook to compare fads to more durablepractices and techniques—the “classics”—in an attempt totell the two apart. Our research identified eight character-istics that reliably distinguish between fads and classics,which managers can use to avoid the former and capturethe latter. Paradoxically, these characteristics accountednot only for the initial popularity and rapid spread offads,

User participation and user involvement in information system development

Defining user participation as the activities performed by users during system development and user involvement as the importance and personal relevance of a system to its user, the authors examine the empirical relationship of participation and involvement with system usage. Based on a field survey of 74 users of management support systems and 31 users of transaction systems the following conclusions are drawn: user participation and user involvement represent two distinct constructs; the role of user participation in achieving system success may be less than has been generally believed; user involvement, as defined and measured, is a key variable for system success; and as a distinct construct, user involvement is related to more variables than user participation alone.<<ETX>>

An Alternative to the Intrinsic-Extrinsic Dichotomy of Work Rewards

The validity of an intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy of work rewards has been questioned on both empirical and theoretical grounds (Dyer & Parker, 1975; Guzzo, 1979). The present study re-examined this issue, analyzing employee perceptions of 48 work rewards in terms of 10 different attributes. The results demonstrate that the task relation and mediational definitions of the intrinsic-extrinsic construct not only differentially classify many work rewards, but also differentially relate to other reward attributes, thus once again calling into question the construct validity of the dichotomy. Further, it was also found that employee perceptions were more focused on those dimensions characterized by expectancy theory constructs. A classification of work rewards based on such perceptions is presented as an alternative that more clearly differentiates work rewards in terms of their motivational effectiveness.

The recall and use of belief statements as bases for judgments: Some determinants and implications

Abstract When people are asked to report their beliefs in a (target) statement, they may search memory for other, “informational” propositions that bear on its validity, and may use their beliefs in these propositions as bases for their judgments. Several factors were hypothesized to affect the particular propositions that subjects are likely to recall under such conditions. Subjects first familiarized themselves with a list of informational and target propositions. Then, they reported either their beliefs in these propositions or their attitudes toward them. In a second session 1 week later, they recalled as many of the propositions as they could. Both informational and target statements were better recalled when the informational propositions were unlikely to be true. In addition, the target statements were better recalled when the informational propositions associated with them had unclear implications for their validity. Recall of one proposition was more likely to cue the recall of the other when subjects had previously reported belief in the target proposition (rather than attitudes toward it). However, it was more likely to occur when subjects had reported attitudes toward the informational proposition (rather than beliefs in it). The effects of these variables were interpreted in terms of their mediating influence on the strength of association between the informational proposition and both (a) the target proposition and (b) contextual and environmental cues in the situation where target beliefs are reported.