The effects of user participation on the design of accounting information systems

The roles of user participation (UP) in the design of Management Accounting Information System(s) (MAS) have long received the attention of MAS researchers. By surveying business firms through a structured questionnaire, this study investigated the interactions among contextual variables (Task uncertainty and organizational structure), information characteristics (Scope, timeliness and aggregation) and UP. The results suggest that under high task uncertainty, aggregated and timely information with high UP is positively associated with increased MAS performance. However, when the task uncertainty is low, the UP makes no impact on the relation between performance and information characteristics. In a less structured organization, broad scope, timely and aggregated information with high UP has a positive influence on the performance. In mechanistic organization, narrow scope and disaggregated information through the high UP can lead to higher MAS performance. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.