Implementation and management of an environment facilitating direct end-user access to corporate databases: An exploratory study

End-user computing is the productive use of computers by non-data processing personnel. It is one of the most significant developments in corporate information systems in the 1980s. It has grown very rapidly, and marks a major transformation of the nature of managerial work. Research has been conducted to provide corporations with better strategies to cope with the rapid growth of end-user computing.;Effective utilization of the corporate database, one of the most expensive corporate resources, by end users is one of the most important issues in the field of corporate information management. An environment which facilitates the direct end-user access to corporate databases has become one of the more controversial issues.;This study has provided guidelines and a structural framework for the study of direct end-user access to corporate databases, based on the perspectives of both DP/MIS departments and end users.;The methodology employed in this study is a cross sectional field survey of DP/MIS practitioners and end users. Multiple methods are employed for data collection, consisting of three approaches: interviews, questionnaires, and collected documents.;This research explores the numerous factors involved in implementing and managing an environment which allows direct end-user access to corporate databases, based on the perceived opinions of both DP/MIS practitioners and end users: (1) major direct access problems, (2) helping channels, (3) data ownership conflicts, (4) training methods, (5) critical success factors, and (6) effects of direct end-user access to corporate databases environment.;To examine the effects of direct access by end users, six hypotheses regarding the relationships among direct accessibility, decision making, quality and productivity of programming activity, and satisfaction of end users are investigated based on multiple regression analysis. Five hypotheses are confirmed. These findings indicate that direct end-user access to corporate databases directly improves decision making and productivity of end users, and indirectly improves the quality of end-user activity and satisfaction of end users.