This study argues that previous examinations of the concept of public employee's IS use behaviors do not tell the concrete story about IS use behaviors. In this regard, this study presents two dimensional views of IS-use behaviors. It examines public ...
This study argues that previous examinations of the concept of public employee's IS use behaviors do not tell the concrete story about IS use behaviors. In this regard, this study presents two dimensional views of IS-use behaviors. It examines public employee's IS-use behavior as manifested in two ways: acceptance on IS, utilization on IS. This study investigates levels of employee's the acceptance and utilization on IS in the Korean central government(ministry and agency) and analyses factors affecting public employee's the acceptance and utilization on task-related IS in the public sector.
This study tries to answer the following questions. First, how are task-related IS being accepted in terms of their use to carry out their tasks? Are there any differences in the levels of acceptance and utilization between different employee, as well as between different ministry and agency? Second, what are important factors affecting employee's the acceptance and utilization on the task-related Information System(GKMS). More specifically, this study tries to examine the variables affecting the acceptance and utilization on IS; especially, the influences of such variables as organization structure, culture, task-related communication with system and people, IT belief, task motivation, IS usability, task understanding, the nature of task in the context of Korean central government.
Based on a questionaire survey in Korean Central Government(8 ministries, 5 agencies) that have implemented Government Knowledge Management System(GKMS), 311 valid instruments were received and analyzed using various statistics and regression, structural equation model(SEM). And this study will adopt try to delineate pre and intervening conditions for public employee's the acceptance and utilization.
According to the results of statistical analysis and interviews, regression analysis suggests that the influence of organizational structure, organizational culture, task-understanding, organizational communication, IS usability, IS leadership were statisticallly significant in the acceptance and utilization on IS. The key findings of this study can be summarized as follows:
First, centralization is negatively associated with public employee's the acceptance and utilization. It seems that structural perspective on organizational innovation has been upheld again by this study. Formalization is significantly associated with public employee's the acceptance and utilization. This result may be related to the fact that the task-related information systems used in the public sector are mostly transaction-processing oriented. Formalization generally inhibits innovation in organizations, but formalizing IT activities and process could greatly facilitate the acceptance on IS.
Second, rational culture is positively associated with public employee's the acceptance and utilization. Public employee's the acceptance and utilization are the cumulative results of actions by individuals and units within the organization. And these actions are stimulated by an organizational milieu of norms, values, and rules. Organizations can foster IS acceptance and utilization by shaping, influencing, and motivating individuals’ attention and cognition toward more rational adaptation.
Third, the task-related communication with system and people, IT belief, task motivation, IS usability, IS leadership is positively associated with public employee's the acceptance and utilization. And it is also hoped that the path-analytic model suggested in this study helps reveal the causal chains between the acceptance and the utilization. Especially, task-understanding proves to be important in encouraging public employee's the acceptance and utilization. This result illustrates why task-understanding people are the key to utilize the task-related IS in public organization.
Content analysis of comments from respondents shows the importance of Business Process Reengineering(BPR) and the whole evaluation of usefulness of IS in government. Finally, the theoretical implications of this dissertation demonstrates the utility of distinguishing among foci of IS use behavior(the acceptance and utilization) that is explained by the organizational context, individual's behavior, technological characteristics.
A limitation of this study may lie in the sample. The sample taken from 8 ministries and 5 agencies may not represent well the diversity of the organization population in terms of the nature of tasks and the information needs. The response rate was also not quite high(50%). Regression model and structural equation modeling on larger and more diverse organizational and people samples may be a very productive next step to take to discover the mechanics of the acceptance and utilization on IS.
In short, this dissertation show that public employee's the acceptance and utilization of the task-related IS is needed to intervene constant managerial practices.