Developing a multidimensional measure of system-use in an organizational context

The perception of a widening gap between the potential of information technology (that is, what it is capable of being and what it can ideally achieve) and its actual use has focused attention on the need for better measures of how extensively information technology is utilized in an organizational context. Building on a taxonomy of system-use and the rich descriptive literature provided by social scientists who focus on the impact of information technology on work, this paper makes an effort to develop new multidimensional measures of how extensively information technology is utilized in an organizational context for decision Support, work integration, and customer service functions. System-use is a pivotal construct in the system-to-value chain that links upstream research on the causes of system success with downstream research on the organizational impacts of information technology. The new measures are appropriate for use as dependent variables in upstream research, or as independent or mediating variables in downstream research on the impact of information technology on work. A sample of 409 end-users enabled the researchers to provide evidence of this instrument's reliability, validity, and general applicability. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.