INFORMATION-SYSTEMS EFFECTIVENESS - A USER SATISFACTION APPROACH

Information systems (IS) effectiveness is a complex variable. The lite rature on organizational effectiveness suggests that it may nor be pos sible to find a precise measure of IS effectiveness and the criteria f or effectiveness may vary from organization to organization. A popular perceptual construct, user satisfaction, is examined through a review of IS effectiveness literature. Problems with this construct are high lighted and the social psychology literature is used to clarify these problems. It is noted that theories and models from the behavioural sc iences offer a sound basis for understanding the problems with concept ualization and operationatization of user satisfaction. As a result of this review, we offer some principles to keep in mind when utilizing user satisfaction as a measure of IS effectiveness. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd