EVALUATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTSIN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

摘要

Information technology (IT) investments yield uncertain and unexpected results; successful outcomes are notguaranteed. Because of this organizations must strive to manage their IT investments effectively. Evaluationplays a critical role in successful IT management; however, it presents many difficulties for both thepractitioner and researcher. In the literature, most IT evaluation methods are highly prescriptive in terms oftheir procedures and evaluation criteria. Paradoxically, many researchers have suggested that successfulevaluation must be contextual-it must address the social and organizational aspects of evaluation anddecision-making, as well as their effects on IT investment outcomes. These circumstances present a conundrum:how can researchers create contextually-sensitive evaluation methodologies while simultaneously providingpractitioners with enough methodological guidance for conducting their evaluations? In this paper, the authorpresents a framework for his dissertation research-research that investigates and will attempt to assist inresolving this paradox.