A system implementation study: management commitment to project management

Recent literature has shown a renewed interest in systems implementation research. Current trends in the organizational deployment of IT have motivated new studies of implementation efforts. This paper reports on one phase of a pluralistic investigation of systems implementation projects. A survey instrument, based on previously validated measurement items, is described; it was tested and validated. In the process, a method for appraising the significance of interaction effects was determined. The results of the analysis show that, for the data of this study, the organizational priority given to implementation projects by top management is only associated indirectly with improved user information satisfaction (UIS). Only when this priority occurs in the management of continuing development and enhancement, does top management support seem to be significant to users. It was also found that the efficiency and flexibility of the development process was significant in its own right, even without any effects of top management support. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.