DESIGNS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING SYSTEMS - TESTS OF A CONTINGENCY THEORY

This study compared the relationships between organizational context a nd the designs of environmental scanning systems for organizations wit h effective and ineffective scanning systems. The study analyzed data from over 100 North American business organizations. Results indicate that organizations with effective scanning systems tend to align their scanning designs with the requirements of their context. On the other hand, the results show that organizations with ineffective scanning s ystems typically fail to exhibit the requisite level of alignment betw een contexts and scanning design.