THE INFLUENCE OF IT MANAGEMENT PRACTICE ON IT USE IN LARGE ORGANIZATIONS

This paper draws upon the absorptive capacity as the theoretical basis for a pragmatic explanation of key factors affecting information tech nology (IT) use in large, complex organizations. IT use is defined as the extent to which an organization deploys IT to support operational and strategic tasks. The study uses results from a survey of senior IT managers from 132 firms to examine hypothesized relationships among t he following constructs: IT management climate, managerial IT knowledg e, IT-management-process effectiveness, and IT use. A structural-equat ion model is developed using LISREL to assess the relative effects of and interrelationships among these constructs. The study's findings in dicate that managerial IT knowledge is a dominant factor in explaining high levels of IT use and that both managerial IT knowledge and IT-ma nagement-process effectiveness are influenced by IT management climate .