Modeling IS Planning Benefits Using ACE

摘要

This paper addresses the dearth of research on the determinants of IS planning benefits. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey of top IS executives from 450 compa- nies in Singapore. Of the 103 responses (representing a response rate of 23/100), 65 com- panies undertook IS planning. To test the hypothesis that the determinant-benefit relationships are likely to be nonlinear the Alternating Conditional Expectations (ACE) algorithm was used. This appears to be the first use of ACE in IS planning research. IS sophistication, communications culture, technology forecasting, top manage- ment support, and firm size were found to be nonlineary related to IS planning benefits (e.g., improved competitiveness, operations, and resource management). For example, IS sophistication affects improved competitiveness positively, and improved resource management negatively. It seems that IS sophistication is directed more at improving competitiveness, even though this may result in less efficient resource management due to bureaucratic procedures. However, at higher levels of IS sophistication, competitive- ness stagnates and may even decrease, possibly due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. Impli- cations of our results are discussed.