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A Study of Information Technology

Effectiveness in Select Government
Organizations in India
M P Gupta, Shivraj Kanungo, Rajesh Kumar, and G
P Sahu

Executive
Summary

KEY WORDS
Information Technology
Effectiveness
KEY WORDS
Government
Organizations
Privatization
User Satisfaction
Indian Banking
Organizational
Culture
Efficiency
Performance

Achieving Information Technology (IT) effectiveness in government offices is a daunting

prospect. This is because the bureaucratic structure, perceived (and often actual) laxity in the
workplace, weak accountability and responsibility relationships, and cumbersome and conflated
work processes act as serious inhibitors of IT effectiveness. There are many indirect influencers
of IT effectiveness.
The broad working propositions for this study have been formulated keeping in mind the
working environment of the government organizations and the past studies that have looked
at government organizations in the context of IT. In some of the organizations, the methodology
of IT use is simple, while in some others, it is tedious and complicated. IT projects are often
fraught with cost overruns and delays. Once deployed, many systems fail to meet functional
requirements or are too complex to be feasible for many organizations. Hence we should expect
to find that government organizations, in general, do not use IT effectively.
This study specifically examines the effects of IT use, user satisfaction, organizational
culture, top management, and IT management on the effectiveness of IT in government
organizations in India. Further, the enablers for IT use are identified that enhances the
organizations performance. A questionnaire survey was employed among the users in Indian
government organizations situated in Delhi and surrounding areas for the collection of data.
The descriptive and inferential statistical analyses result into the following conclusion:
User satisfaction is the indicator of system success and the users like a friendly system.
The users are influenced more by the information systems (IS) staff in comparison to nonIS staff.
Top management involvement is relatively high in IT-related problems resulting in
higher budget for IT, which in turn plays a positive role in increasing the satisfaction of
users.
However, the initiative to motivate IS staff is not enough and the computer training given
to the users fails to take care of the latest needs. The users are required to be familiar with the
latest technology and therefore be given the latest training for better IT use. The difficulty in
effective IT use is also due to some resistance experienced from the employees of the organizations. This is further compounded due to the existence of workers union problems. Correlation
and regression analyses reveal that:
the independent variables (viz., IT use, user satisfaction, top management, IT management, and organizational culture) have significant positive effect on the dependent
variable, i.e., IT effectiveness.
leadership, managerial awareness of costs and benefits, centrality of IT business
strategy, top management support, higher position of IS manager, easy accessibility to
computer, enhanced connectivity capability, favourable cost performance trends, vendor push, and competitive pressure were found to be the IT enablers.
The future scope of research lies in extending the study to all government organizations
of India and also comparing state government organizations with those of the central
government.

VIKALPA VOLUME 32 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2007

ifference between the public and the private

sector organizations is well acknowledged.
Another sector the government sector is
equally large and has assumed a special importance in
India particularly due to the large number of employment provided by this sector. There are many criteria
based on which these three sectors can be compared.
Despite historical difficulties, recent pressures on
reducing public expenditures have made it essential for
the public administrators to continue their search for
identifying various ways of increasing productivity while
simultaneously enhancing the responsiveness to the
citizens needs (Karwan and Markland, 2005). One of the
most visible criteria for comparison is productivity in
the workplace (Gupta and Jana, 2003). Anecdotal evidences and observations often result in simplistic conclusions that put private sector productivity levels higher
than that of the public sector. In such a comparative
framework, government sector productivity always
seems to appear in the lowest rung. The relationship
between Information Technology (IT) and productivity
has been studied extensively in the initial stages of
computer applications in organizations. However, recent surveys concluded that, despite extraordinary efforts, this area of research still offers conflicting findings
about the productivity benefits of IT (Brynjolfsson and
Hitt, 1993; Smith, 1996; Willcocks, 1992; Wilson, 1995).
Since IT is a major determinant of organizational
productivity, it is reasonable to believe that higher levels
of IT diffusion would also result in higher levels of
productivity. Past studies have shown that in terms of
IT infusion, private organizations have been most agile
in introducing newer and appropriate forms of IT. Public
sector organizations, on the other hand, also have a
profit orientation, or at least a cost minimization orientation, and therefore tend to introduce IT albeit in a
delayed framework (Kumar, 2002).
In general, as indicated in some other literature
(Dewett and Jones, 2001; Gupta and Sanjay, 2004), IT is
understood to offer substantial information efficiencies
and synergies to an organization. It does not just allow
access to prior knowledge, as might result from a knowledge codification, but in fact enables the employees to
search for and absorb new knowledge that is relevant
to a problem at hand. They also suggested many useful
properties of IT that can affect organizational efficiency.
IT facilitates efficient communicationthe ability to
communicate more easily and less expensively across

time and geographic location. It also improves the

decision-making efficiency including the ability to store
and retrieve large amounts of information more quickly
and inexpensively. Moreover, it enhances the motivational effects of cultural values that are supportive of
efficiency or innovation (Trice and Bayer, 1993). They
indicated that by using IT, an organization can make
available to employees a slew of supportive messages
and statements, often contained in an organizations
mission and vision, corporate goals, strategies, and
operating procedures.
The government organizations can be characterized
as those, which handle or subsist on public funds and
are focused on providing public services and also support other internal government machinery. These organizations are generally characterized by their bureaucratic set-up in which decision-making tends to be
phlegmatic. The lack of urgency in decision-making is
more apparent in the case of decisions typified by
uncertainty and specialized knowledge (Gupta, Kumar,
and Bhattacharya, 2006).
Since IT is a fast moving area and a typical government office lacks the requisite expertise for taking decisions related to IT, an extended committee approach
is often adopted. Eventually, such decisions get delayed
and organizational ambiguities tend to manifest themselves in almost all stages of the information systems
life cycles, starting from project conceptualization to
implementation and use. Consequently, it is not surprising to hear that of the three sectors, the government
sector is the least advanced in introducing IT in its
organizational working. As a corollary, the productivity
impacts of IT use in government organizations is also
among the least of all the three groups.
In the Indian context, given the nature of the Indian
economy and the political history of the nation, the
government organization has been, is still, and will, for
a long time, continue to be the greatest direct influence
on the life of the common man. This is because the
government organizations constitute the largest employment base in India. Their public dealing offices cater to
a myriad of direct public requirements (like taxes, driving licenses, health services, etc.). This implies that minor
productivity improvements can result in large-scale and
widespread public benefits.
Since IT is an important enabler of organizational
productivity and hence that of organization effectiveness, it is crucial to understand the sources of produc-

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

tivity increase in government organization vis-a-vis IT.

We address the set of issues that involve attitudes towards IT and motivation to use such technology across
various levels in various organizations. We also need
to understand the impediments, which may be cultural,
organizational, procedural, structural, administrative or
social with respect to the adoption of IT.

STUDY DESIGN
The aim of this research is to empirically assess the level
of IT use in government organizations, and study the
role of top management, IT management, user satisfaction, organizational culture, and IT use through descriptive and inferential statistics. The following research
questions are posed which have been subsequently
translated into working hypotheses:
How effectively is IT used in the government organizations?
What are the factors that affect IT use in government
organizations?
What are the relationships between IT use and
departmental attributes?
What is the role of top management for effective IT
use in the organizations?
What is the relationship between IT use, user expectation, and satisfaction?
The enablers, inhibitors, and indicators of IT effectiveness have also been identified.
The model considered to examine the effects of these
factors and effectiveness of IT is shown in Figure 1. The
variablestop management, IT management, user satisfaction, organizational culture, and IT use are consid-

ered as independent variables while IT effectiveness is

the dependent variable in the model. A brief description
of these variables is given below.

Top Management
Top management involvement in the IT-related projects
provides guidelines and directions for the IS professionals and users. It also provides better communication
among the users and produces better results while taking
decisions. Better understanding of the projects by the
top management facilitates information systems in the
organization. Lack of training and understanding of
information systems among the top management is the
biggest problem in the effectiveness of IT in the organizations. The involvement of top management also
supports the change process, that is, involving employees at all levels and increasing the confidence among
employees. Top management also helps in satisfying the
users in their expectations. They also suggest a positive
relationship between leadership and commitment which
in turn leads to job satisfaction in users.

IT Management
An efficient IT management helps an organization in
increasing its operational efficiency, solving the unstructured decisions, and also in strategic planning. It affects
the productivity of the organization and users relationship with other officials of the organization. Moreover,
it helps an organization become a low cost leader and
differentiate products by incorporating appropriate
technology. Advancement in IT management is very
useful in taking timely decisions and resolving problems
associated with the information systems.

Figure 1: The Model

Top M anagem ent

IT M anagem ent

U serSatisfaction

IT Effectiveness
O rganizationalCulture

IT U se

VIKALPA VOLUME 32 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2007

User Satisfaction

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

User expectations affect user satisfaction and hence it

becomes very essential to find out the expectations of
the users in order to attain user satisfaction. The involvement of users in system development is positively correlated with their desire to be involved. User satisfaction
along with the usage of information system has been
used as a measure of IT effectiveness. The users are
influenced more by the IS staff as compared to the nonIS staff. Users are also more influenced by the internal
sources of the organization as compared to the sources
external to the organization. The user satisfaction with
IT use is important for the organization for its productivity, efficiency, and accuracy in the reports. IT effectiveness in the organization is positively correlated with
user satisfaction.

The broad working hypotheses for this study are formulated keeping in mind the working environment of
the government organizations. In some of the organizations, the methodology of IT use is simple, while in
some others, it is tedious and complicated. Therefore,
hypotheses are formulated to test them empirically in
the Indian context.
The top management in government organizations
expects higher and better impact of information systems
for future planning and implementation. For IT efficiency, better documentation, planning, and procedures
are required. Hence,
Hypotheses I: Government organizations, in
general, do not use IT effectively.
For IT effectiveness in the organizations, the users
should be involved in IS-development projects; their
attitude should be favourable towards IT-related problems; their background should be technically sound with
regard to IT; and the work and culture of the organization should also motivate the users. Hence,
Hypotheses II: A major source of IT inefficiency
arises from the existing work methods.
For better IS projects and effectiveness of IT, IS
managers should be given more powers in taking decisions; top management should motivate the IS personnel; and there should not be any undue interference by
top management in IT-related projects. IT effectiveness
mainly depends on the structure of the government
organizations. Hence,
Hypotheses III: Organizational size and users
attitudes contribute significantly to IT effectiveness.
For success of IS in the organization, it should meet
the users satisfaction with IT. Literature also suggests
that user satisfaction regarding computer information
systems have been used as a surrogate measure of system
effectiveness. Hence,
Hypotheses IV: The nature of responsibility and
accountability across the board hinders proper
growth of IT in government organizations.

Organizational Culture
Organizational culture depends on departmental affiliation of employees, employees specialization, strategy, and technology. IT effectiveness requires the management of organizational culture and mechanisms of
the supply and distribution of information. IT effectiveness in an organization is also related to the ability of
its culture to ease the adoption and diffusion of new
technologies. The management of the organization plays
an important role in establishing and shaping the culture
of the organization. The IT professionals are also affected by the culture of the organization, mostly by the
formal structure of the organization, top management,
IT management, work processes, and general organizational behaviour.

IT Use
There was a high resistance from the union leaders and
the employees of the government organizations at the
time of introduction of computers. The employees feared
that the recruitment of IT staff would lesson their control,
and that they would not be able to tamper with the data
as well as the reports after the implementation of IT in
the organizations. Later, however, they realized that IT
implementation had reduced the burden of the organization and improved the output and quality of reports
produced by the organization. Computer training also
enhanced the system utilization and users commitment.
Training and education in computer-related software,
proper maintenance, proper documentation, and support from the vendor increased IT effectiveness.

10

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
The scope of the study is limited to the Indian government organizations situated in New Delhi and the surrounding areas. In order to achieve good results, it is
necessary to select better representation of the population. Purposive sampling technique was considered for

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

10

the research. A questionnaire was developed and distributed among the employees of the government organizations, including the top management, IT personnel,
and the IT users.
The questionnaire was structured along the guidelines given by Franz and Robey (1986), and some other
relevant literature. It incorporated questions regarding
the independent and dependent variables user satisfaction, IT use, organizational culture, and information
systems performance along with the enablers and inhibitors of IT use. The issues regarding top management
and IT management were also included in the questionnaire. The Likert scale was used in formulating the
questionnaires, in which the respondents were asked to
state their preference on a continuum no effect, low,
medium, high, very high, and none, very little,
little, and moderately. The answers for the categories
were thus mutually exclusive so that the respondent had
to state only one choice against an item. An attempt was
also made to minimize the bias in the language of the
questionnaire.
The questionnaire along with a covering letter
mentioning the objectives of the study was administered
in the organizations adjacent to New Delhi area. Personal visits were made to the offices situated in New
Delhi and followed up personally or through phones to
collect the filled questionnaires. A total of 22 government organizations were approached to participate in
this study.
Seven hundred and fifty sets of questionnaires were
used to collect data from 15 organizations. The half-filled

questionnaires were not considered in the study. The

response rate of the data used in the study is shown in
Table 1. The data were selected only from those organizations where the response rate was higher than the
effective response rate which was found to be 40.4 per
cent. On the basis of the response rate, 14 organizations
were chosen for this study.
A pilot study, conducted on three government
organizations, was used for finalizing the questionnaire
items. The heads of information systems as well as the
users and the top management of the organizations also
critiqued the questions. Their suggestions were incorporated to meet their expectations and satisfaction.

DATA VALIDATION
The three phasespre-test, pilot test, and reliability test
tested the validity of the data.
During the pre-test, all items in the draft instrument
were qualitatively analysed to test their validity. Randomly, individuals from different organizations were
requested to fill out the original version of the questionnaire. They were then requested to participate in different in-depth unstructured interviews. The interviews
were conducted over a period of two weeks and contained critiques of individual questionnaire items and
suggestions for improvement. The information thus
obtained allowed us to review the questionnaire and
make substantive changes to improve the overall format.
Qualitatively, content validity was established by obtaining a consensus on each of the questionnaire items.
We collected data from three government sources

Table 1: Response Rate of Data

S.No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Organization
Directorate of Income Tax (RSP&PR)
Registrar General of India
National Sample Survey Organization
Ministry of Labour
Ministry of Power
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Railways
CSO, Ministry of Planning
DGET, Ministry of Labour
National Informatic Centre
Union Public Service Commission
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Human Resource Development
Ministry of Agriculture
Controller of Accountant General(CAG)
Total

Sent

Received

Response Rate (%)

50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
750

27
24
21
25
20
23
26
24
24
24
24
23
22
21
2
328

54
48
42
50
40
46
52
48
48
48
48
46
44
42
4
40.35

11

VIKALPA VOLUME 32 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2007

11

namely the Directorate of Income Tax (DIT), the Director

General of Employment and Training (DGET), and the
Office of Registrar General of India (RGI). The results
were examined and tested statistically using Statistical
Package for Social Sciences and were found to be significant.
The internal consistency of the data was measured
using reliability measures. For instance, reliability was
assessed using Cronbachs alpha. High values of
Cronbachs alpha indicate high internal consistency of
the multiple items measuring each construct, thus suggesting high reliability of the individual construct. The
reliability coefficients of more than the cut-off value of
0.6 is recommended as acceptable for empirical research
of similar nature. The reliability coefficient of the independent variablesuser satisfaction and IS usewere
found to be significant (alpha = 0.8004). Also, the reliability coefficient of the variables of top management
and IT management were found to be significant (alpha
=0.7768, and alpha = 0.7710 respectively). Similarly, the
reliability coefficients of the variablesorganizational
culture for managerial and non-managerial categories
have been found to be significant (alpha =0.8142, and
alpha = 0.7386 respectively). The reliability coefficient
of the dependent variables of IT effectiveness was also
found to be significant (alpha =0.6097). In view of the
above, we conclude that the data is significantly reliable
and can be used for final analysis.
The frequency tables, along with charts of regression as well as correlation analysis were prepared as per
the requirement of the study using SPSS. Since the
respondents were from the various government organizations in India, it was presumed that all of them were
qualified and familiar with information system.

per the results depicted in Figure 2, frequent system

users account for about 62.6 per cent. However, a near
similar number (61.3%) of respondents are light users.
This result indicates that system usage is frequent but
less, implying that use of computers has not become a
habit as yet (negligible standard error, i.e. 0.027).

User Satisfaction
User satisfaction with system is also increasing. This is
clear from the results (Figure 3) as the system use is high
in meeting the original expectations (31%); the system
also assists them in performing their jobs (40.5%). Users
are using the reports provided by the system (27.9%).
The reports are in a format desired by the users except
for a few cases where some corrections are required. The
analysis indicates that the jobs would improve after
implementation of the new system (The standard error
is negligible).
The organization plays an important role in satisfying the users. 38.7 per cent of the users are of the
opinion that their expectations are considered in the
development of their projects; 35.6 per cent are influenced by the IS staff as compared to the non-IS staff;
and 35.9 per cent are of the opinion that computer training and IT use increased their confidence.
It is thus clear that the system assists the users in
performing their jobs though not adequately. The rising
expectations of the users also play an important role in
considering the users satisfaction which in turn is found
to be the best indicator of IS success. The trained users
are more confident and when used by them, the efficiency, productivity, and accuracy of the system also
gets enhanced. However, there is still scope of improvement.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The objective of descriptive statistics was to provide
summary measures of data contained in all the elements
of the sample. In doing so, we used the frequency tables,
mean, percentage of data scored by the elements/variables, and standard error. The relevant tables were
generated for the variables under study, i.e., IT use, top
management, IT management, user satisfaction, and
organizational culture.

Figure 2: Usage Frequency of the System

Infrequently

IT Use

Frequently

Government organizations, in general, are now found

to be increasing IT usage though the trend is slow. As

12

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

12

Figure 3: User Satisfaction

C ount
140
120

IT Effectiveness
IT effectiveness is adjudged by improved effectiveness,
improved communications, improved decision making,
improved organizational responsiveness, and information systems on the whole. The users felt that there was
improvement in all of these (Table 2).

100
80
60
40
20
0

and power-oriented. These organizations thus offer little

opportunity for innovation and risk-taking.

IT-related Issues
N otAll Very Little Little M pderae H igh Very H igh

Does this system assist you in performing your job better?

Top Management
Top management involvement is very crucial for the
success of IT projects.
In the government organizations in India, the trend
is improving35 per cent of the respondents feel that
top management takes deep interest in increasing the
IT usage. However, while decisions are taken by consensus (39.5%), training programmes related to IT are
not adequate. Budget allocation for IT is also increasing.
The inter-departmental communication flow is high
(35.6%) in the organization and although management
is clear about its policy making it relies more on external
help and consultancy. The management is interested in
measuring the cost-benefit of IT systems that are implemented and proactive in the IT-related decisions (33.1%).

IT Management
The contribution of IT management should improve the
effectiveness on IT in the organizations.
Although 32.2 per cent of the respondents preferred
consensus mode in IT-related decisions, decision-making is slow. The management takes active part in ITrelated decisions (35.3%), which increase the effectiveness of IT in the organization. The employees, however,
resist management taking these decisions as they (35.0%)
fear that IT will take away their jobs.

Organizational Culture
An organizations culture plays an important role in
accomplishing success of IT project. The government
organizations are hierarchical, procedural, and resultoriented. They are not sociable and structured, but are
pressurized and ordered, established, cautious, trusting,

IT related issues considered in the study are at five

levels: managerial, technical, organizational, personnel,
and infrastructure.
The users were of the view that the performance
evaluation of the IT staff, flow of authority and information, centralization, and planning of goals were high
in the organization while control and audit capability
of IS were medium. Further, the quality of hardware/
software and IT obsolescence were high but vendor
back-up and technology absorption were medium. This
shows that in government organizations, the hardware
and software that have been installed are of good quality
while vendor support is poor.
The users were of the opinion that users capability
(48.8%) and job satisfaction of the IS staff (40.5%) were
high while the redundancy and conflict of authority
were medium in nature. The need for training is high.
Moreover, the quality of connectivity, power, space, and
funds are of concern while operating costs is generally
found high in the government organizations. These
issues according to their significance are summarized
in Table 3.
Table 2: Rating of Organizational IT
Q. No.
F1
Mean:2.59
S.E.: 0.069
F2
Mean:2.71
S.E.:0.059
F3
Mean:2.85
S.E.:0.054
F4
Mean:2.83
S.E.:0.060
F5
Mean:2.56
S.E.:0.055

Attribute

Met All Expectations( %)

Improved effectiveness

40.2

Improved communications

36.8

Improved decision-making

25.2

Improved organizational responsiveness

33.7

IS on the whole

42.0

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Significant IT Enablers/Inhibitors
There are many factors which, if used appropriately,
greatly help in enhancing IT use. Categorized as organizational, technical, and environmental factors, they can
also be termed as enablers of IT. The users were of the
view that enablers of IT with a high score are leadership
in the organization, management awareness about the
costs and benefits of IT, centrality of IT strategy, and
awareness of IT applications, top management support,
position of IS manager, and easy accessibility of computers. Also, in government organizations, the favourable cost performance trends, enhanced connectivity
capability, falling prices of computers, quality of final
work, and management assistance to make tasks easier
are the enablers of the IT. Further, the users were of the
opinion that the organization had high vendor push,
enough competitive pressure, and a higher depreciation
and other regulatory benefits (Table 4).
There are a number of factors which inhibit the
growth of IT projects. The users found high managerial
resistance and high financial constraints in the government organizations. The top management lacks in giving
a vision of IT and its benefits. There are excessive controls and procedures to be followed. The organizations
do not have good computer training facility or programmes. The employees resisted IT-driven change. The
organizations are more centralized and there is often
conflict among the officials. There are also difficulties
in making cost-benefits analysis in the organizations.
These are inhibitors of IT use in the government organizations. The users are of the view that lack of good
quality hardware and technology obsolescence is rela-

tively higher inhibitors in the organization as compared

to lack in established standards and lack of good software. Further, lack of good quality service to IT solutions
and poor back-up support by vendor are also big inhibitors. The comparative analysis of the relatively significant IT enablers and inhibitors is presented in Table 4.

INFERENTIAL STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Inferential statistics is meant to draw inference about the
data through investigative questions, model, and hypotheses. It is used to make judgment about the probability that an observed difference between the groups
is dependable or not. Inferential statistics make inference from the data to more general conditions. On the
other hand, descriptive statistics simply describes what
is going on in the data. Both correlation and regression
analyses were used for the testing of the hypotheses.

Correlation Analysis
Correlation analysis was performed for all the variables,
viz., top management, IT management, user satisfaction,
organizational culture, and IT use with variables of IT
effectiveness. The correlation between the variables of
IT effectiveness is tabulated in Table 5. The variables of
IT effectiveness were highly correlated with each other.

IT Use and Effectiveness

The results of the correlation of IT use and IT effectiveness (Table 6) show a significantly positive relation of
the variable using of system frequently with the variables improved effectiveness and improved decisionmaking.

Table 3: Grading of IT issues

Variables

Medium

Managerial

Control/Audit capability of IS

Technical

Vendor backup/Support
Technology absorption
Business process re-design
New products as a result of IT
Redundancy
Authority conflict

Organizational
Personnel
Infrastructure

14

High

Performance evaluation of IS staff

Flow of authority and information
Planning goals
Centralization/Delegation.
Hardware/Software quality.
IT obsolescence
Structural changes due to IT in the organization
Effect on efficiency in the organization
Job scope/Job satisfaction of IS
User capability
Connectivity
Power
Space
Fund constraints

Very High

Training needs

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

14

Table 4: Relative Significance of IT-Enablers/Inhibitors

Variables
ENABLERS

Organizational

Technical

Environmental

INHIBITORS

Organizational

Technical

Environmental

High

Medium

Leadership
Managerial awareness of costs and benefits
Centrality of IT to business strategy
Awareness of potential IT application
Top management support
Higher position of IS manager
Easy accessibility to computer
Favourable cost performance trends
Enhanced connectivity capability
Falling prices of computers
Improved quality of the final work
Makes tasks easier to perform
Vendors push
Competitive pressure
Depriciation and regulatory benefits

Vision of integration through IT platform

Managerial resistance
Employees resistance to change
Financial constraints
Difficulty in making a cost benefit analysis.
Lack of top management vision of IT
Centralized/Decentralized conflict
Excessive controls/Formalities
Lack of previous experience/Training
Lack of appropriate planning
Relatively lower position of the IT department
Obsolescence of technology
Future reduction in cost performance
Lack of good quality of hardware
Lack of good quality service to organizational needs for IT solutions
Poor back up by vendor

Table 5: Correlation for Rating of IT Effectiveness Variables

Factor

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Improved
Improved
Improved
IT on the

effectiveness
communication
Decision-making
organizational responsiveness
whole

Improved
Communication

0
0
0
0
0.009

0
0
0
0
0.001

Improved
Decisionmaking

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

0
0
0
0.028
0.038

0.009
0
0.028
0
0

IT on the
Whole
0.009
0.001
0.038
0
0

Table 6: Correlation of IT Use and IT Effectiveness

Q.
No.

Factor

A1
A2

How freguently system is used?

Is the user light user of the system?

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Communication

Improved
Decisionmaking

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

IT on the
Whole

0.142*
0.055

0.106
0.037

0.145*
0.098

0.005
0.033

0.019
0.076

Note: *. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

User Satisfaction and IT Effectiveness

The details of the correlation between user satisfaction
and IT effectiveness are given in Table 7.
Drawing on the results, we can conclude that most
of the factors of the variable IT effectiveness were
correlated with the variables of top management. It was

found that the user actually uses the system as per the
expectations and that the system assists the users in
performing their jobs better. The jobs provided by the
system were found to be better than before; the system
was actually used less as compared to the total number
of people who could be using it; and user satisfaction

15

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Table 7: Correlation of Users Satisfaction and IT Effectiveness

Q.
No.

Variable

B1

To what extent does this system meet

0.005
the original expectations ?
To what extent does this system assist
0.098
you in performing jobs better ?
To what extent did you get better jobs
0.112
with this system ?
To what extent you actually use the reports
0.037
provided by the system ?
To what extent does data received from this
-0.089
system require correction ?
To what extent does this system overloads
0.149*
you with more data ?
To what extent does this system provide
0.069
reports as desired ?
To what extent would you like this system
0.060
modified/redesigned
To what extent is this system actually used as
0.129*
compared to its potential use ?
To what extent user satisfaction is an indicator
0.010
of system success ?
To what extent is user expectation considered
0.099
when assessing user satisfaction ?
To what extent users are influenced by
0.195**
IS staff/non IS staff ?
To what extent organization plays an important role 0.163**
in satisfaction of user ?
To what extent computer training
0.154**
increases confidence ?
To what extent does this system assist
0.016
you with your job ?

B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
B11
B12
B13
B14
B15

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Improved
Communication Decisionmaking

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

IT on the
Whole

0.112

0.030

0.149*

0.150*

0.064

0.156**

0.090

0.201**

0.087

0.153**

0.210**

0.244**

0.067

0.081

0.022

0.092

-0.103

-0.059

-0.006

-0.086

-0.027

-0.059

0.099

0.087

0.028

0.102

-0.047

-0.013

-0.131*

0.030

0.102

0.140*

0.125*

0.156**

0.059

0.213**

0.096

0.051

0.130*

0.159**

0.173**

0.134*

0.217**

0.131*

0.046

0.118*

0.177**

0.110

0.063

0.013

0.133*

0.101

0.069

0.050

0.168**

0.051

0.075

-0.002

0.064

0.101

Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level.

was found to be an indicator of the system success.

Users expectations were also considered when assessing user satisfaction; users were influenced by the IS
staff; organization played an important role in the satisfaction of users; and training increased the confidence
among users. The results also indicated that improved
effectiveness and improved communication was affected
by the variables the system overloads you with more
data, and user is like to modify this system respectively. Thus, overall, user expectations and satisfaction
was highly correlated with IT effectiveness.

Top Management and IT Effectiveness

The correlation analysis of the variables of top management and IT effectiveness has been tabulated (Table 8).
From the results shown in the table, we conclude that
the variable top management is highly correlated with
IT effectiveness. This proves that top management
provides help for IT effectiveness in the organization.

16

IT Management and IT Effectiveness

The correlation between the variables of IT management
and IT effectiveness has been tabulated (Table 9). From
the results, it is clear that the variable IT management
was highly correlated with the variables of IT effectiveness. This also explains how the role of IT management
affects the effectiveness of IT in the organization.

Organizational Culture and IT Effectiveness

The results of correlation between organizational culture and the variables of IT effectiveness are shown in
Table 10. All the variables of organizational culture
were found to be significantly correlated with IT effectiveness.

Regression Analysis
The details of regression analysis have been tabulated
using SPSS. Since there were five options for IT effectiveness, viz., improved effectiveness, improved de-

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Table 8: Correlation of Top Management and IT Effectiveness

Q.
No.

Variable

C1

To what extent is consensus the preferred mode

of decision making in the organization?
What is the extent of personal involvement of top
management in IT usage, in the organization?
Are there any training programme from top
management w.r.t. to IT in the organization?
How much was the quantum of investment in IT
w.r.t to IT in the organization?
To what extent does management measure the
cost-benefit of the implemented IT systems?
To what extent does top management give
initiatives to IT persons?
What is the extent of inter-departmental
management communication flow?
How much is the top management clear about
the role of IT in the organization?
How much does top management get involved
in budget allocation of the organization?
To what extent does top management rely on
external help in IT decisions?
How much is the top management role proactive
in IT-related decisions in the organization?
To what extent is top management facing
competitive pressure?

C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
C11
C12

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Improved
Communication Decisionmaking

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

IT on the
Whole

0.051

0.161**

0.172**

0.232**

0.286**

0.044

0.152*

0.215**

0.137*

0.041

0.087

0.087

0.105

0.070

0.114

0.062

0.001

-0.003

-0.060

0.021

0.069

0.070

0.162**

0.265**

0.055

0.124*

0.017

0.078

0.168**

0.004

0.144*

0.175**

0.156**

0.113

0.050

0.151*

0.151*

0.069

0.245**

0.171**

0.005

0.131*

0.037

0.003

0.155*

0.188**

0.157**

0.232**

0.163**

0.144*

0.069

0.129*

0.134*

0.225**

0.204**

0.241**

0.073

0.115

0.194*

0.077

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

IT on the
Whole

Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level.

Table 9: Correlation of IT Management and IT Effectiveness

Q.
No.

Variable

D1

To what extent is consensus the preferred mode

of decision-making in IT decisions?
To what extent is decision-making process is
used w.r.t to IT in the organization?
To what extent is MIS the vision of the role of
IT in the organization?
To what extent is IT effectiveness related with
the managements decisions?
How much active part does management take in
IT decisions of the organizations?
To what extent does management play its role
in IT strategy and planning?
How many employees resist the management in
taking IT-related decisions?
How much does management make IT-related
tasks easier to perform?

D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Improved
Communication Decisionmaking

0.115

0.131*

0.163**

0.132*

0.161**

0.055

0.142*

0.100

0.173**

0.117*

0.126*

0.060

0.208**

0.218**

0.054

0.082

0.085

0.064

0.114

0.087

0.131*

0.212**

0.177**

0.043

0.020

0.191**

0.227**

0.220**

0.265**

0.185**

0.169**

0.088

0.160**

0.265**

0.167**

0.129*

0.081

0.043

0.131*

0.168**

Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level.

cision making, improved communication, improved

organizational responsiveness, and IT on the whole,
IT effectiveness was calculated with the help of a weighted matrix (Table 11).
The IT effectiveness variable is generated by multiplying these five factors with the eigen values and then
taking the average of the values. The variable generated

was used for the regression analysis as dependent

variable. The variables such as IT uses, top management,
IT management, user satisfaction, and organizational
culture were used as independent variables. The values
of R-square, F-ratio, and the significant values of probabilities are tabulated (Table 12).

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Table 10: Correlation of Organizational Culture and IT Effectiveness

Q.
No.

Variable

E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8
E9
E10
E11
E12
E13
E14
E15
E16
E17
E18
E19
E20
E21
E22
E23

Risk taking
Collaborative
Hierarchical
Procedural
Relationship-oriented
Result-oriented
Creative
Encouraging
Sociable
Structured
Pressurized
Ordered
Stimulating
Regulated
Equitable
Safe
Challenging
Enterprising
Established, solid
Cautious
Trusting
Driving
Power-oriented

Improved
Effectiveness

Improved
Improved
Communication Decisionmaking

0.041
0.107
0.009
0.065
0.090
0.052
0.103
0.153
0.032**
0.003
0.074
0.097
0.041
0.095
0.014
0.056
0.082
0.120
0.068
0.033
0.091
0.136*
0.209**

0.045
0.106
0.026
0.078
0.052
0.051
0.046
0.049
0.014
0.018
0.101
0.052
0.015
0.050
0.066
0.029
0.029
0.010
0.021
0.020
0.092
0.044
0.117*

Improved
Organizational
Responsiveness

IT on the
Whole

0.041
0.020
0.071
0.213**
0.057
0.006
0.017
0.062
0.168**
0.020
0.112
0.261**
0.029
0.056
0.020
0.007
0.050
0.034
0.010
0.078
0.123*
0.207**
0.230**

0.046
0.033
0.108
0.132
0.011
0.066
0.069
0.047
0.105
0.034
0.015
0.130*
0.053
0.019
0.059
0.012
0.079
0.062
0.026
0.178**
0.114
0.104
0.099

0.166**
0.087
0.073
0.069
0.069
0.010
0.077
0.052
0.019
0.066
0.063
0.034
0.002
0.145*
0.051
0.069
0.124*
0.023
0.123
0.046
0.043
0.175**
0.124*

Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level.
Table 11: Weighted Matrix
Variables

IT Use and Top Management

Organization
IT
and IT
Culture and
Effectiveness
Effectiveness
IT Effectiveness

IT use and IT effectiveness

Top management and IT effectiveness
Organization culture and IT effectiveness
User satisfaction and IT effectiveness
IT management and IT effectiveness

1
1/6
1/5
1/4
1/4

6
1
1/5
6
1/5

The results show that the variables under study

have a significant positive effect on IT effectiveness.

Top Management
The standard error of the result varies from 0.043 to
0.049, which is very negligible. The regression analysis
of the variable top management with IT effectiveness
(Table 13) reveals that top management relies on external help and consultant for IT decisions. The value oft
was found to be 2.519, suggesting that the relation was
positively significant. This shows that the top management was significantly related with IT effectiveness but
the variables of top management were not significantly
related except for the fact that the top management relied
on the consultant.

18

5
5
1
1/6
1/7

User
IT Management Eigen
Satisfaction
and IT
Value
and IT
Effectiveness
Effectiveness
4
1/6
6
1
7

4
5
7
1/7
1

0.46
0.16
0.18
0.09
0.11

IT Management
The regression analysis of the independent variable IT
management and the dependent variable IT effectiveness was tabulated (Table 13). The standard error of
the results varies from 0.043 to 0.051, which is very
negligible. The variable IT management was found to
be positively significant with IT effectiveness, but the
options of this variable did not have significant effect
with IT effectiveness except the variable IT management plays its role in IT strategy and planning. This
result was found to be positive at 0.05 level of significance. This shows that the management of the government organizations in India has not been taking proper
interest in the effective implementation of IT.

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

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Table 12: R-Square, F Ratio, and Significant Value

S.No.
A
B
C
D
E

Variables

R-Square

F Ratio

Significant Value

0.023
0.119
0.165
0.146
0.123

03.198
3.006
2.202
3.082
4.801

0.042
0.001
0.002
0
0

IT use and IT effectiveness

Top management and IT effectiveness
Organization culture and IT effectiveness
User satisfaction and IT effectiveness
IT-management and IT effectiveness

Table 13: Regression Analysis

Q.No.

Contents

Standard
error

Significant
Value

0.047

2.519

0.012

0.043

3.230

0.001

0.032
0.047
0.044

-3.280
2.416
-2.375

0.001
0.016
0.018

0.067
0.050

-2.722
3.359

0.007
0.001

0.102

2.453

0.015.

Top Management and IT Effectiveness

C10

D6
B5
B9
B15
E8
E23
A1

To what extent does top management rely on external/consultant

for help in IT decisions?
IT Management and IT Effectiveness
To what extent does management play its role in IT strategy and planning?
User Satisfaction and IT Effectiveness
To what extent does the data received from this system require correction?
To what extent is this system actually used?
To what extent does this system assist you in your job?
Organization Culture and IT Effectiveness
Encouraging
Power-oriented
IT Use and IT Effectiveness
How frequently is the system used by the user?

User Satisfaction
The regression analysis of user satisfaction with IT
effectiveness was found significant at 0.05 level of significance (Table 13). The results reveal that the variables
data received from the system requires correction, this
system is actually used by the user, and this system
actually assists the user in the jobs are significantly
related. The relationship of the variable data received
from the system requires correction and this system
assists the user significantly in the jobs, were negative
while the variable this system is actually used by the
user was significantly positive. This shows that IT
effectiveness increases as the data received from the
system requires lesser number of corrections and decreases as the system does not assist the user as desired.
This also proves that though the users actually used the
system, they were not satisfied with the same.

Organizational Culture
The results of regression analysis of the organizational
culture with IT effectiveness were found significantly
positive at 0.05 level of significance (Table 13). It has
been found that only two variables encouraging and
power-oriented were significantly related. The variable encouraging was negatively significant while the
variable power-oriented was positively significant. This
shows that the environment for IT has not been encour-

aging in government organizations in India and the

environment was found to be power-oriented.

IT Use
There were two variables of IT use, i.e., how often was
the system used frequently by the users and the users
were light user of the system. Table 13 reveals that the
system used frequently by the user leads to IT effectiveness as the relationship is positive and significant
(p = 0.015).

DISCUSSION
The results show that the system was moderately used
in the government organizations even though it provided reports as desired by the users. There was a lack of
appropriate training and planning, and back-up support
by the vendor. The results help in proving that the
government organizations, in general, do not use IT
effectively. This validates Hypothesis I.
There was a lack of previous experience in IT besides high centralization and excessive controls and IT
management being relatively less important than the top
management. Further, the training programme for IT
arranged by the top management was not adequate, and
organizations were power-oriented. This hindered the
efficient working of IT in the organization. Thus, Hypothesis IIthat the existing working methods are the

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major source of inefficiencywas validated.

Bigger organizations have better results for IT effectiveness. The relationship between organizational
culture and IT effectiveness was found to have significant positive results. The user satisfaction had significant positive results with IT effectiveness. The expectations of the users were considered when assessing
their satisfaction and the users were more or less satisfied in their demand. The analysis also indicates that
the system is actually used by the users. This would be
helpful in proving Hypothesis IIIthat the organizational size and users attitude contribute significantly to
IT effectiveness.
The management had excessive controls and centralization of power. The vendor back-up and technology absorption were found to be medium. The management also relied more on external help and consultancy.
This helped in validating Hypothesis IVthat the nature of accountability structure also hinders the working
of IT in government organizations.
It was further observed that the system was not able
to meet all the expectations of the users. The system was
found to be moderately used in government organizations even though it assisted the users in their jobs and
helped in performing the jobs better. The users used the
system frequently but less. The vendor support and
technology absorption were also medium in the government organizations.
The leadership quality, managerial awareness of
costs and benefits, centrality of IT to strategy, awareness
of IT applications, top management support, higher
position of IS manager, falling prices of computers,
improved quality of the final work, making task easier,
and vendor push are the factors which should help to
increase the effectiveness of IT in the government organizations. The study also indicates that managerial
resistance, financial constraints, excessive controls and
formalities, lack of previous experience, appropriate
planning, lack of good quality hardware, and poor backup of vendor are the factors which reduce IT effectiveness.
Further, computer training increases the confidence
among users. The organization plays an important role

20

in the satisfaction of users and the system actually assists

the users in their jobs. The top management makes tasks
easier to take the IT-related decisions. IT effectiveness
has been related with the managements decisions. The
initiatives given to IT-professionals and providing training to them has been envisaged by top management. This
shows that IT effectiveness has been related with the
departmental attributes.
The management allocates budget for IT investment, measures the cost benefits of IT system implemented, gives initiatives to ITpersons, and holds training programmes related to IT. It also plays a major role
in formulating IT strategy and planning and makes tasks
easier to take IT-related decisions. In fact, IT effectiveness is related with managements decisions. Thus IT
effectiveness could increase with the initiatives taken by
top management and IT management.
The results show that the system assisted the user
in performing their jobs better; the reports received by
the system were actually used by the users with few
corrections; user expectations were considered when
assessing user satisfaction; ITusage increased confidence
among the users; and user satisfaction was an indicator
of system success. This shows that ITuse has been highly
related with user expectations and satisfaction. It can
also be stated that the success of IT depends on the user
satisfaction.
The study concludes that the system use in the
organizations is not as effective as desired. The top
management relies on external consultant for technical
support with the internal IS-staff lacking training on the
latest technologies and feeling deprived and demotivated.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
Results suggest that user satisfaction is the best indicator
of IT. The trained IS staff is more confident in solving
the problems using IT. Although, the top management
encouraged training programmes for the IS professionals, they did not meet the requirement. They had to
therefore rely more on external help and consultants.
The employees in general resist the dominance of top
management in IT-related decisions.

A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

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M P Gupta is the Group Chair of IT and the Coordinator

of the Centre for Excellence in E-governance at IIT Delhi.
His research interest lies in the areas of IS/IT planning, Ebusiness, and E-government. He has authored the much
acclaimed book, Government Online and edited two others
entitled, Towards E-Government and Promise of E-Government,
published by Tata McGraw Hill, 2004. His research papers
have appeared in national and international journals and
conference proceedings. He was the recipient of the
prestigious Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) fellowship
of Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Calgary (Canada), in the
year 1995-96 and a Visiting Fellow at the University of
Manitoba. He supervised the e-government portal Gram
Prabhat which won the IBM Great Mind Challenge Award
for the year 2003. He is also a member of the International
Programme Committee of the International Conference on
Business Information System (BIS-2003 at Colorado) and
(BIS-2004, 2005 and 2006 at Poznan).
e-mail: mpgupta@dms.iitd.ernet.in

(published by Hindustan Publishing Corporation). His latest

book, CMMI Implementation: Embarking on High Maturity
Practices (coauthored with Dr. Asha Goyal from IBM and
published by Tata-McGraw Hill) was released in 2004.
e-mail: kanungo@gwu.edu

Shivraj Kanungo is currently Associate Professor at the

George Washington Uinversity (USA). He is a successful
consultant and has published extensively in research journals.
He offers executive and practitioner-oriented workshops on
software cost modeling and estimation, software process
improvement, the use of Six Sigma approaches in process
improvement, and qualitative and management decisionmaking. His books include Making Information Technology
Work (Sage Publications), Computer and Network Technologies
and Applications, (coauthored with with B. N. Jain from IITDelhi and published by Tata-McGrawHill,), and Information
Technology at Work: A Collection of Managerial Experiences

Rajesh Kumar is currently active in education sector through

an NGO. He received his Doctoral degree from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Delhi concluded under the
supervision of Prof. M P Gupta and S Kanungo. Earlier, he
has served in various central government departments
before he took voluntary retirement to pursue an NGO in
Haryana.

G P Sahu is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Management

Studies, M N National Institute of Technology, Allahabad
for last seven years. He pursued his Doctoral work at the
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Delhi. His research interests are in the
areas of MIS and E-government. He has published research
papers both in journals and conferences proceedings. He has
also coordinated an International Conference on Integrating
World Market-Living Excellence through Technology and
Beyond.... (January 5-6, 2002) and has edited a book on
Integrating World Market in 2002. He has also edited a book
Delivering E-government in 2006. He is now the Programme
Chair of the 5th International Conference in E-governance
(ICEG 2007) in December at Hyderabad.
e-mail: sahu_ganesh@rediffmail.com

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