An expanded instrument for evaluating information system success

Abstract Economic and quantitative measures for the success of Information Systems (IS) are difficult to obtain. Researchers and practitioners often rely on subjective assessment and surrogate measures, such as the user information satisfaction (UIS) instrument. The UIS instrument has been widely accepted even though criticized for neglecting the essential issues related to the success of IS. It measures success only indirectly, by assessing the quality of the IS product and related services. By extending the measure of success to also include the development process (standing for the investment costs and efficient use of the resources) and the impact of the IS on the organization (standing for the benefits of the investment), we allow for a more comprehensive and direct assessment of the IS development projects that better conforms to the idea of a traditional cost-benefit analysis, relevant to the managers responsible for the IS investments. Measurement scales for the resulting four dimensions of success—the development process, use process, IS product quality and impact of the IS on the organization—were developed and tested for reliability and validity, by studying the IS development projects in major Finnish companies.

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