A User-Satisfaction Approach to IS Effectiveness Measurement

Abstract

This paper reports on research conducted by the authors into how to measure the effectiveness of a personal computer network used by a business school to deliver a range of personal productivity tools to MBA students, as well as academic and administrative staff. The use of user-satisfaction is recognized by many IT researchers as an appropriate surrogate for IT effectiveness. The authors decided to use a user-satisfaction model which is based on the gap between users’ beliefs of what is important and their perception of what is delivered by the ISD, to measure the effectiveness of the personal computer network. In brief, the research showed that all was not well with the personal computer network in use. The gaps on the two perceptual performance factors, namely effective benefits and system access, are significant in assessing overall satisfaction with the network. The gap on effective benefits is approximately twice as important as system's access in terms of its impact on overall satisfaction. This research study showed that this gap approach is quite effective. It is inexpensive. It does not require an enormous amount of expertize, although an acquaintance with factor analysis is necessary. The study need not take a long period of time; the total lapse time for the above research was six weeks, requiring the equivalent of five person-days work.