A benchmarking framework for information systems management issues in Kuwait

Purpose - Aims to demonstrate the importance of reporting IS management constructs rather than reporting and ranking the individual management issues; determine whether the ratings of IS management factors differ across organizational and personal variables; and benchmark the position of Kuwait's results on dimensionality and determinants of IS management issues with that of other previous studies. Design/methodology/approach - This field study considered only the opinions of the highest ranked executives of the IS functions within their organizations. A seven-page structured interview guide was used for data collection. Principal component factor analysis was performed on the issue ratings in order to determine underlying IS management factors. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to further assess how well the factors fit the issue data and to test the fit of the resulting factor model. Finally, t-tests were performed to test whether the differences between factors were significant in order to demonstrate the discriminatory value of reporting IS management factor areas rather than individual issues. Findings - The key IS management factors identified by IS managers are the effective management of IS resources such as data, networks and applications; and managers' knowledge of IS. This study also found that most situational variables including nationality are not associated with differences in IS management factor ratings. Thus, the survey results are consistent across different types of organizations and respondents. The exception is organization size and IS department size. Size differences can lead to different opinions on the relative importance of various IS management factors. Originality/value - To demonstrate the importance of reporting IS management factors (constructs) as a benchmarking framework rather than reporting and ranking the individual management issues, and to use the derived conceptual benchmarking model to determine whether the ratings of IS management factors differ across organizational and personal variables.