| Research in information systems has been concerned with the assurance of system success, as perceived by the users of a system, without adequately defining the construct or examining its validity. The construct of success is useful in evaluating the effectiveness of managerial interventions in system development.;This dissertation develops a theory to guide the selection of a criterion measure that should be functionally related to information systems success. This criterion is a decision maker's intention to further develop the existing information system within his or her organization. The generalized (non-quantitative) form of the cost/benefit principle is employed to advance hypotheses that examine the predictive validity of alternative indicators of information systems success.;Data were gathered through a cross-sectional mail survey of 1,000 decision makers in systems development. Two success concepts were measured: (a) the quality of output information as perceived by the users of the system's output and (b) the usefulness of a system as perceived by its users. The perceived cost of the intended change in an existing information system was also measured. Tests for construct validity, including confirmatory factor analysis, provided supportive results. The measures were found to exhibit high reliability and were able to discriminate their theoretical variables. Tests of the hypothesized effects indicated that system usefulness, along with cost, had a significant effect on future development intentions. Information quality was not found to have a strong effect on development intentions.;These results suggest that system usefulness can be validly utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of managerial interventions in system development. The use of information quality in evaluating such policies was not supported by the results. Further research is needed to ascertain the nature of information quality and to determine its relationship with both situational and other controllable variables that operate during the process of system development. |
