Date of Award

Summer 2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Department

Marketing and Analysis

First Advisor

Thomas Means

Abstract

Information systems (IS) research has shown that communication skills tend to be more important than technical skills to IS staff in project development activities. Yet, research findings indicate that IS staff are lacking in the communication skills they need to interact successfully with users and managers during systems development. Thus, the two purposes of this research were (1) to determine whether IS staff, IS managers, and IS users differ in their perceptions of important communication skills that IS staff need and (2) if differences do exist, to assess the impact of the differences on user satisfaction with IS product and service and on IS manager's job performance evaluations of IS staff.

Variables used in this study were written and oral communication skills, interpersonal skills, user satisfaction, and job performance. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop models of the constructs, to address validity and reliability issues, and to assess model fit of the variables. Paired-sample T-tests were used to determine whether significant differences in perceptions existed between IS staff and users and between IS staff and managers. Regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of differences on user satisfaction and job performance.

Results of the research indicated that significant differences in perceptions of importance of written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills existed between IS staff and users and between IS staff and managers. Also, the results indicated that the greater the difference in perceptions of IS staff and users with respect to written and oral communications, the lower that user satisfaction was and that the greater the difference in perceptions with respect to interpersonal skills, the lower that user satisfaction with user involvement was. Findings indicated that IS staff and managers differed significantly in their perceptions of importance of written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills and that the greater the difference, the lower job performance evaluations were.

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