comparison with other frameworks
The IS Success Model by DeLone and McLean.
Vol. 3, No. 1 of Information Systems Research (March 1992) included an article entitled "Information System Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable," by William H. DeLone and Ephraim R. McLean. The paper discussed the difficulty in defining information system success and noted that different researchers address different aspects of success, "making comparisons difficult and the prospect of building a cumulative tradition for I/S research similarly elusive." The article reviewed past research and identified six major dimensions of I/S success: system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact. It then posited an IS success model that explained how these variables are related:
http://theweb.badm.sc.edu/grover/isworld/isoehom3.htm
"SYSTEM QUALITY and INFORMATION QUALITY singularly and jointly affect both USE and USER SATISFACTION. Additionally, the amount of USE can affect the degree of USER SATISFACTION - positively or negatively - as well as the reverse being true. USE and USER SATISFACTION are direct antecedants of INDIVIDUAL IMPACT; and lastly, this IMPACT on individual performance should eventually have some ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT." (p. 83)
Although the flow of causality in the IS success model might seem straightforward (especially in the diagram), the WCA approach raises a number of questions about the applicability of the model. Remember that the WCA approach starts with a picture of the work system, not the information system, and note that in many cases, the information system is an integral part of the work system. Looking at each variable in turn, a number of issues emerge:
System quality: Which system's quality matters more, the work system or the information system? Is it possible to have a high quality information system and a low quality work system?
Information quality: Is this measured in terms of the demands of the work system or in terms of the information with regard to whether the information is needed or used?
Information use: Is this voluntary use as part of an unstructured or semi-structured business process, or is is mandatory use as part of a highly structured business process that requires all participants to work in a similar manner?
User satisfaction: Is this typically dominated by issues related to the work system rather than the information system?
Individual impact: As with user satisfaction, is this typically dominated by issues related to the work system rather than the information system?
Organizational impact: Many information systems are integral parts of work systems. Is it really meaningful to talk about the "organizational impact" of a part of a work system? Is it more meaningful to talk about the organizational impact of the work system itself?
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