USER PARTICIPATION IN SYSTEM-DEVELOPMENT REVISITED

There is an extensive literature on user participation in system devel opment. Individual papers discuss separate components of the participa tion issue. Papers study individual factors associated with participat ion, investigate the process of participation and discuss the link bet ween participation and system success. In spite of the many studies in this area, findings are not consistent or cumulative. One reason for this may be that participation is a nebulous term that is difficult to define clearly: it is a concept with many dimensions. This paper high lights a number of attributes of participation, presents a framework w hich is used to describe and synthesise existing research findings, an d includes an analysis of empirical literature in an attempt to explai n inconsistency in findings.