EMERGING ISSUES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLCGY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE REVISITED

Ronald M. Zigli' and Krishna S. Dhir'

'Department of Business Administration The Citadel

Charleston, SC 29409

I - The discipline of Management Information Systems (MIS) has hecn in existence for about thirty years. During this period, the adoption and diffusion of MIS has been significant in the more advanced nations (eg. The United States, Europe and Jailan). The advancements in recent years of information tech- noloqy have heon esppcially rapid transforming industrialized societies from service to information economies. Today, this field continues to be very dynamic, driven by rapid growth in information technoloqy and rising user expectations. Conse- qucntly, thr key MIS issues and the areas prime for research keep chanqirrg an8 evolvinq and the perceptions of information management iirofessionals relative to trends in information tech- nology (IT) continues to be of interest to researchers in the field. Other devplopod and developing countries (Korea, Singa- pore, India, China, Soviet Union) are also beqinninq to assimi- late information technoloyy into their developmental infrastruc- ture. In this contcxt, it would he useful to identify the key MIS issues and areas for rrsearch for both developed and devel- opinq nations in varirgated social/economic/political systems. This study examines the perceptions of IT professionals in se- lected countries (developed and developing). The results of studies conducted in these countries are presented in juxta- position and discussed in the context of earlier studies. As expected, there are similarities as well as a number of striking differences in the perceived importance of various IT issues from study to study.

Introduction '

In 1958, Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler popular- ized the term "information technology" [lo]. Since then the im- portance and professional interest in information technology has qrown dramatically. The information systems community especially finds itself faced with a plethora of new and difficult questions to answer relative to the allocation of scarce resources to these ever-changing information technologies. Equally perplexing are the evolving problems concerning the management of IT organiza- tions, burgeoning need for educational programs and need for even more research in the field. Advances in information technology further compound these problems by rapidly shrinking our world even more. Today's telecommunication systems have indeed made XcLuhan's prognostication 20 years ago of a "Global Village" a reality [11].

As John Naishitt predicted in his bestseller Megatrends, the post-industrial society is now the information society. The effects of IT world-wide have been profound. The economic im- pact has been readily apparent for years. In the 1970s it was estimdted that a significant proportion of the GDPs of The United States, Western Europe, and Japan would be derived from informa- tion related activities 1191. That prediction has certainly come true. It is important to note that the impact of infarmation technoloqy is not limited to economics but is reflected in vir- tually every aspect of social and political life.

Government and business are especially concerned with the trends and directions of information technology. Their interest continues to fyel a spate of studies conducted on information technology. To that end, information systems specialists, CIOs, CEOs, MIS managers and a host of other IT executives have been surveyed almost ad nauseam. Initially those studies were large- ly conducted in &-countries (e.g., Rockhart, 1979; Ball & Harris, 1982; Hartog and Herbert, 1986; Brancheau & Wetherhe, 1967; Ruday, 1988; Cougar, 1986 & 1988; Wilder, 1989; Moon, 1989; and Harrison and Farn, 1990) [I-9,12,23]. More recently, however, an increasing number of studies have queried similar constituencies in developing and countries (eg. Moynihan, 1990; Bhatnagar and N. Bjorn-Andersen, 1990; Harrison and Farn, 1990; Palvia and Palvia 1990, Palvia, Palvia and Zigli, 1992; Shitma,

'School of Business Administration Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg

Middletown', PA 17057

1990; Walsham eg.al., 1990; Zigli, 1990; and Zigli and Dhir, 1991) [2,8,13,16,17,18,22,24,251.

Consequently, the perceptions of information systems (IS) professionals relative to issues in information technology (IT) are being gatherd by researchers on a regular basis. Since the 1980s a myriad of limited domain studies on this subject have been reported in the information technology literature. This study presents yet another perspective relative to key issues in information technology. Using an instrument based upon one de- veloped by Brancheau and Wetherbe [3,4] in the 198Os, this re- search adds one more perspective focusing on the perceptions of selected information resources administrators (CIOs, Directors, Managers) in higher education in the southeast region of the United States of America. The results are presented in, juxta- position to the perceptions of 1.3 executives in three other countries at different stages of development. pect, there are a number of striking differences and some sur- prising similarities in the responses of the subjects from study to study relative to the perceived importance of various IT issues.

As one might ex-

Key Issues Identified in Three Earlier Studies

Although numerous studies have been conducted over the years relative to key issues in IT, only three will be presented here. These studies target different constituencies, cultures and stages of national development and are as such considered both diverse and representative of IT issues research. To provide breadth for comparison purposes, only the current study was con- ducted in the United States. As one might expect, there were some Similarities in the results, however, there were also some striking differences. Taiwan and was conducted by Harrison and Farn. reported in 1990 in Information & Management [8]. The results of that study are shown below in Table 1.

The first study involved IT executives in The findings were

The second IT issues study cited here was conducted by Zigli in 1988 in a developing nation [17,18,24]. LOcal information systems executives working for computer vendors were surveyed re- lative to their perceptions of the key IT issues in their country The results of that stuey are shown below in Table 2. There were a number of ties in rankings which are denoted by an asterisk (*) This large number of ties is believed to be attributable to the four point scale of the instrument used.

TABLE 1

Key Issues on Information Technology: Perceptions of IT Executives in Taiwan by

(William L. Harrison and Cheng-Kiang Fam)

Item Rank Mean No. 1. Establishing and/or maintaining more effec- 1 8.29

2. Establishing and/or maintaining effective 27.92

3. Improving the productivity of IS professionals 37.91

4. I.S. staff development and the maintenance 4 7.90

tive communication with end-users.

communication with top management.

in the development of applications.

of attractive career paths.

activities. - :.. ..

ment activit.Ss which provide/enhance com- petitive advantages for the firm.

goals of the organization and information

5. Improving the prbductivity of maintenance 5 7.55

6. Creating an&&ioting information manage- 67.55

7. Maintaining close agreement between the 7 7.48

112

Item Rank No.

services group. 8. Training end users to bg effective partici- 8

pants development of applications. 9. Fostering more effective use of workstations 9

by professionals. 10. Accomplishing more complete integration of 10

systems hy better interface/interconnectivi- ty standards.

11. Developing standards for information systems 11 activities and developing control mechanisms.

12. Assessing the economic viability of replac- 12 ing lold) existing applications with new ones.

13. Developing effective procedures for QA & 13 control in the development of applications by the end user community.

14. Developing management's awareness of the 14 potential for the use of AI techniques for end users.

15. Developing and utilizing expert systems to 15 enhance the functional activities of the organization.

16. Developing and utilizing expert systems to 16 enhance information management activities.

Mean

7.22

7.10

7.05

6.83

6.28

5.44

4.47

4.29

4.09

~ ~~

[Source: Information & Management 18 (1990) 177-1881

TABLE 2

The Key IT Issues in a Developing Nation

Item Ranking by Key Issue No. Computer Vendor

IS Executives 1. 1 Data Security 2. 2 Aligning of MIS with the Organization 3. 3* Quality of Input Data 4. 3* Educating Senior Managers About MIS 5. 4* Continuing Training and Education of

6. 4* Standards in Sardware and Software 7. 4* Telecommunications 8. 5* User Friendly Systems 9. 5* MIS Strategic Planning and Use of

MIS Staff

Information System as a Strategic Tool

10. 5* Government Controls 11. 5* Technology Transfer

* Denotes a tie in Rank

(Sources: Palvia, Palvia, and Zigli, Global Issues in Information Technology Manageaent, 1992)

Zigli and Dhir, 1991 Pan-Pacific Proceedings and

The third study was conducted by Palvia and Palvia in 1989 in India [16]. Once again, top and middle level IT managers were questioned relative to their perceptions of the key issues in IT. The data in this study was collected using the Nominal Grouping Technique (NGT). Table 3.

The results of this study are shown below in

TABLE 3

Key Management Information Systems Issues in India

Item Managers Kev Issue No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6

7* 7* 8 9* 9* 10

Understanding/Awareness of MIS Contribution Human Resources/Personnel for MIS Quality of Input Data Educating Senior Managers About MIS User Friendliness of Systems Continuing Training and Education of IIS

Maintenance of Software Standards in Hardware and Software Data Security Packaged Applications Software Availability Culture and Style Barriers Maintenance of Hardware

Staff

* Denotes a Tie in Rank ~~ ~~

(Source: Working Paper Series, Memphis State University)

THE U.S. STUDY

The study conducted by the authors of this paper drew re- spondents from the southeastern region of The United States. The results were initially reported in the 1993 Proceeding of the Pan-Pacific Conference.

The Sample

The subjects used in this study were senior IT executives at institutions/organizations of higher education of varying sizes located throughout the southeastern region of the United States of America. ceived the questionnaire. In all, 36.5% of the subjects re- sponded (31 usable questionnaires). This response rate is com- parable to other similar studies. Two examples are the 1981 study of Ball and Harris which had a response rate of 29.8% and the 1985 study by Herbert and Hartog which had a response rate of 40% (See Ball and Harris, 1982 and Hartog and Herbert, 1986).

Of those that responded approximately, 87.1% had the title Director/Executive (Other titles were CIO, VP, or Manager), 22.5% wer.e women, 87.1% had 10 years or more of HIS experience, 83.9% had 10 years or more of business experience, and 67.7% held a graduate degree. (MIS) employees and 71% directly supervised 10 or niore employees.

The Instrument

A total of 85 institutions/arganizations re-

Over 80% of the subjects had 10 or more

The instrument based upon the questionnaire developed by Brancheau and Wetherbe [3,4], consisted of 29 items on a seven point Likert Scale ranging from "Of minimum Importance (1)" to "Of Maximum Importance (7)." In fact, all of the issues (items) identified by Brancheau and Wetherbe in 1986 were included plus several new items drawn from subsequent studies. The results of this study are shown below in Table 4.

TlrBLE 4

Rankings of Key Issues in IT by Senior Administrators of Information Resources at Institutions of Higher Education in the

Southeast Region of The United States of America

- Item No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

- Description of Key Issue

Facilitating/Managing End-User Computing Improving IT Strategic Planning Aligning the IT with that of the Enterprise Promoting Effective Use Data Resources Converting to and Using Relational DBMS Planning, Implementing & Mgt. of Telecomm. Improving Data Integrity and Quality Improving Effectiveness of Software Development Improving Information Security and Control Determining Appropriate IT Funding Levels Increasing Understanding IT Role/Contribution Integrating DP, OA, FA and Telecommunications Managing Data and Document Storage Measuring IT Effectiveness & Productivity Enabling ED1 and Multi- Vendor Integration Specify, Recruit, Develop IS Human Resources Selecting & Integrating Pkg Application Software Developing an Information Architecture Using IT for Competitive Advantage Planning & Management of Applications Portfolio Planning, Implementing & Managing OA Developing & Implementing Decision Support Systems Making Effective Use of

Ranking

1

2

3

*4

*4

*5

*5

6

*7

*7

8

*9

*9

*9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Rank

6.000

5.839

5.774

5.667

5.667

5.613

5.613

5.367

5.290

5.290

5.258

5.194

5.194

5.194

5.129

5.032

5.000

4.903

4.871

4.833

4.807

4.667

4.613

Standard Average Deviation 0.931

1.128

0.884

1.045

1.194

1.453

1.145

1.352

1.270

1.442

1.290

1.401

1.223

1 - 276

1.478

1.224

1.390

1.446

1.784

1.262

1.327

1.222

1.276

113

Item No. - 24. 25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

Description of Key Issue

Computer Graphics Technology Transfer Cultural Barriers to the Utilization of IT Effect of the Political Environment of IT Government Control or Regulation of IT Managing the Impact of Artificial Intelligence Planning, Implementing & Mgt. of Factory Automation

Ranking Rank Standard Average Deviation

19 4.258 1.591 20 3.774 1.499

21 3.613 1.647

22 3.548 1.591

23 3.097 1.399

24 1.710 1.322

RES"

The authors then reviewed all of the above studies in an effort to detemine commonalities and distinct differences be- tween these studies. shown below in Table 5.

The results of all of the above studies are

TABLE 5

Summary of Selected IT Studies in The US., Taiwan, Africa, and India

U.S. Taiwan Africa India Study Study Study Study

Item Rank Item Rank Item Rank Item Rank

1 1 1 1 5 5 No. No. No.

2 2 9 5* 3 3 7 7 2 2 4 4* 5,9 5.9 5 6 7 4*

4* - 7 3 3* 3 3

5" - 5* -

8 6 3 3 9 7* - 1 1 9 8 10 7* - 11 8 2 2 4 3 4 4 12 9* 10 10

5 8 7* 13 9* - 14 9* 5 15 10 16 11 4,8 4,8 5 4* 2,6 2,6

10 9* 17 12

1 1 18 13 19 14 20 15 21 16 22 17 23 18 24 19 25 20 26 21 27 22 28 23 29 24

No.

6 6

5* 11 9*

11

10 5*

* Denotes a tie in rank

Conclusions

At first glance, it would appear that the studies cited above have little or nothing in common. however. A closer scrutiny of the top ten issues reveals that these studies focus on one or more aspects of such broad topics as: education of personnel relative to the role or operations of the various information technologies, technological obsolescence, MISKorporate goal congruence and the achievement of competitive advantage through IT. These studies also reveal that planning and integration of the various information technologies are con- sidered important issues to the respondents.

There are differences in the results reported between the studies cited above. These disparities are probably attributable to a potpourri of sample-specific factors. Each study drew its respondents from different populations relative to professional orientation, culture, and position. Even the time the sample was taken may have influenced the results given the speed with which information technology changes. The studies cited here and those found in the literature often use different methodologies which may very well affect the results. Some researchers utilize an open-ended questionnaire, others e Likert scaled questionnaire (Scales vary widely from 2 point to 10 Point), still other re- searchers use an ideation technique (eg. Nominal Grouping * g

Such is not the case

P'

- vis The Delphi Technique ctc.), some utilize structured intcr- views and some employ a combination of all of these techniques to collect the data. All things considered, it is, therefore, even more surprising that so many issues are of M P ~ O ~ interest

j erceived importance in these studies.

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