The measurement of end-user computing satisfaction
MIS Quarterly
A discrepancy model of end-user computing involvement
Management Science
Shared minds: the new technologies of collaboration
Shared minds: the new technologies of collaboration
Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology
Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology
The test-retest reliability of user involvement instruments
Information and Management
Developing a multidimensional measure of system-use in an organizational context
Information and Management
Process improvement and organizational learning: the role of collaboration technologies
Process improvement and organizational learning: the role of collaboration technologies
Collaborative Technologies and Organizational Learning
Collaborative Technologies and Organizational Learning
GroupWare: Computer Support for Business Teams
GroupWare: Computer Support for Business Teams
Systems Analysis and Design
Successful strategies for user participation in systems development
Journal of Management Information Systems - Special section: Strategic and competitive information systems
Human factors and the systems development process
Socio-technical and human cognition elements of information systems
The Role of User Participation in Information Systems Development: Implications from a Meta-Analysis
Journal of Management Information Systems
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User participation seems especially important in the development of collaborative work systems where the technology is used by a work group to coordinate its joint activities. Users rather than systems analysts are often the best source of information on how they will use information technology to collaborate. It is almost an axiom of systems development that end users should participate in a broad range of activities/decisions, and that they should be permitted to participate in these decisions as much as they want. Despite these widely held beliefs, research has not focused on the differential efficacy of user participation in collaborative versus non-collaborative applications. Building upon the work of behavioral scientists who study participative decision making, Doll and Torkzadeh 1991 present a congruence construct of participation that measures whether end users participate as much as they want in key systems analysis decisions. Using a sample of 163 collaborative and 239 non-collaborative applications, this research focuses on three research questions: 1 Is user participation more effective in collaborative applications? 2 What specific decision issues enhance user satisfaction and productivity? and 3 Can permitting end-users to participate as much as they want on some issues be ineffective or even dysfunctional? The results indicate that user participation is more effective in collaborative applications. Of the four decision issues tested, only participation in information needs analysis predicts end-user satisfaction and task productivity. Encouraging end users to participate as much as they want on a broad range of systems analysis issues such as project initiation, information flow analysis, and format design appears to be, at best, a waste of time and, perhaps, even harmful. These findings should help managers and analysts make better decisions about how to focus participatory efforts and whether end users should participate as much as they want in the design of collaborative systems.