Journal of Information, Information Technology, and Organizations
Volume 3, 2008
Applying Importance-Performance Analysis to Information Systems: An Exploratory Case Study
Sulaiman Ainin and Nur Haryati Hisham Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
ainins@um.edu.my; nurharyati@mesiniaga.com.my
Abstract
Using an end-user satisfaction survey, the perception of the importance of attributes of information systems was investigated and whether the performance of information systems met the users’ expectations in a company in Malaysia. It was discovered that the end-users were moderately satisfied with the company’s IS performance and that there were gaps between importance and performance on all the systems-related attributes studied. The largest gap pertained to the attributes Understanding Systems, Documentation, and High Availability of Systems. The contribution of the study is in advancing Importance-Performance Analysis applicable to IS research. Ke ywords: information systems performance, information systems importance, end-user satisfaction
Introduction
Information technology (IT ) and information systems (IS) continue to be highly or significantly debated in today’s corporate environments. As IT spending grows and becomes commoditized and as essential as electricity and running water, many organizations continue to wonder if their IT spending is justified (Farbey, Land, & Targett, 1992) and whether their IS functions are effective (Delone & McLean, 1992). IT and IS have evolved drastically from the heyday of mainframe computing to the environment that has reached out to the end-users. In the past, end-users interacted with systems via the system analyst or programmer who translated the user requirements into system input in order to generate the output required for the end-users’ analysis and decisionmaking process. However, now end-users are more directly involved with the systems as they navigate...