IT Governance Mechanisms in Public Sector Organisations

Abstract

Information technology plays a significant role enabling organisations to achieve their objectives. Accordingly, the governance mechanisms over the organisation’s IT resources must be in place and operating effectively if the organization is to achieve its objectives. The concern with IT governance is not only evident in the private sector but also in the public sector. This study attempts to examine empirically the individual IT governance mechanisms that influence the overall effectiveness of IT governance in Australian public sector organisations. Using sample data from auditors who currently work in Australian public sector organisations, this study examined the influence of four proposed individual IT governance mechanisms on the overall effectiveness of IT governance. This study found significant positive relationships between the existence of an IT strategy committee and corporate (organisational) communication systems, and the overall level of effective IT governance within Australian public sector organisations.

Information Technology Governance in Public Organizations: Identifying mechanisms that meet its goals while respecting principles

“…Table 1 shows the mechanisms cited in the study by Peterson (2001). Ali and Green (2007), in turn, used structural equation analysis and modeling to examine 110 questionnaires answered by members of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) in Australia. The study suggests a positive and significant correlation between the overall level of effectiveness of IT Governance and the relationship mechanisms, especially the mechanisms of top management involvement in IT, ethics or culture of compliance with policies, guidelines and procedures and set of formal/informal communication practices.…”

Exploring IT Dependency and IT Governance: A Canadian Survey

“…Indeed, having an IT strategy committee of the Board seems to be a rare occurrence (Huff et al, 2006;Bart & Turel, 2009). Moreover, firms do not use all key IT governance mechanisms (structures, processes, relational capabilities) suggested in the literature (e.g., Weill & Ross, 2005;Ali & Green, 2007;Bowen, Cheung, & Rohde, 2007;Parent & Reich, 2009;De Haes & Van Grembergen, 2009).…”

A Model of Effective IT Governance for Collaborative Networked Organizations

“…Jackson (1986) advocates that one of the reasons for top management involvement is that such involvement makes easier the implementation of organization-wide controls and policies. In addition, the increased awareness of senior management in IT also allows for management to identify more possibilities for utilizing IT in line with business objectives, as well as to support projects and policies that contribute to better IT governance (Ali & Green, 2007;Bowen et al, 2007). Accordingly the involvement and support of senior management in IT is expected to improve the overall level of effective IT governance within the organization (Ferguson , Green, Vaswani, & Wu, 2013).…”