Practitioner Factors in Information Technology Governance

Abstract

Past research in information technology (IT) governance has shown that strong IT governance results in improved business performance. Despite widespread acceptance that IT governance is important, there are limited studies focusing on IT practitioners in IT governance initiatives. This study aims to examine the extent of commitment, awareness, perceived importance and competency in influencing IT practitioners' participation in IT governance initiatives. Data analysis using Partial Least Squares reveals that awareness, perceived importance and competency have positive influence on participation in IT governance. However, commitment is not a significant predictor of participation in IT governance. The practitioner-centric approach taken by this study adds knowledge to the existing IT governance literature from organisational perspective. The findings from this study help IT management identify focus areas in increasing to maximise participation of IT practitioners in IT governance initiatives.

Who owns IT?

“…But as organizations changed, especially with the federation of business units, and technology options increased, research on governance offered alternative insights into how companies redefined governance, as well as the role of technology in all business processes and models. 11,20,21,23 Research on technology alignment and governance is extensive. 3,6,13,24,28 We also know a lot about structures and processes.…”

“…Technology governance, as in all aspects of corporate governance, concerns decision rights often organized in responsible/accountable/consultative/informed, or RACI, playbooks that describe who is allowed to acquire, deploy, and support business technology. 12,20 In centralized IT organizations, decision rights involved in the acquisition, deployment, and support of technology belong to a central group reporting to a corporate executive, increasingly the CFO. In decentralized organizations, decision rights are shared across the enterprise and business units; in federated organizations, rights are coordinated across the corporate IT group, the business units, and even specific corporate functions.…”

Delving Into the IT Governance-Management Communication Interface

“…Nonetheless, organizations are increasingly aware of controlling and measuring IT to ensure whether the expected value has been provided. Haes, 2016Haes, , 2017Ko & Fink, 2010;Liu & Yin, 2009;Luftman, 2000;J Peppard, 2010;Sambamurthy & Zmud, 1999;Venkatraman et al, 1993) Culture and Human Behavior (6) (Bradley et al, 2012;Gómez et al, 2017;Sledgianowski & Luftman, 2005;Daniel Smits & Van Hillegersberg, 2014;Teo, Abd Manaf, et al, 2013;Weill & Ross, 2004) Leadership (4) (Gómez et al, 2017;Ko & Fink, 2010;J Peppard, 2010;Daniel Smits & Van Hillegersberg, 2014) • Business and impact. Business and IT plans should be designed collaboratively involving all of the stakeholders, considering the logical expected value IT would provide regarding its features, characteristics, and abilities.…”

“…• Allegedly, there are more popular topics in the definitions depending on the interests or needs of the author/researcher, showing no consensus (Raymond, Bergeron, Croteau, & Uwizeyemungu, 2019;Robb & Parent, 2009). • Several empirical studies show the theory-practice gap of implementing IT governance in organizations (Buchwald, Urbach, & Ahlemann, 2014;De Maere & De Haes, 2017; González-Rojas, Gómez-Morantes, & Beltrán, 2018;Daniël Smits & Van Hillegersberg, 2018b;Teo, Abd Manaf, & Choong, 2013). • Some barriers in the implementation of IT governance are related to social aspects such as lack of communication between IT governance and IT management, lack of understanding and trust, and different executives' perceptions of IT business value (Buchwald et al, 2014;Parry & Lind, 2016;Phiri & Weiguo, 2013;Rahimi, Møller, & Hvam, 2016;Tallon, 2014;.…”

“…They also stated that there is not much knowledge about this mechanism in organizations; it is the least elaborate even in the literature in contrast to the other two, which have extensive research. Furthermore, IT governance studies have focused on board and top-level management involvement, capabilities, responsibilities, awareness, and willingness regarding IT governance, but less attention has been given to IT managers and lower layers participation (De Maere & De Haes, 2016, 2017Teo, Abd Manaf, et al, 2013). There is no consensus about the aspects needed to communicate both IT governance and management layers, even though there are numerous frameworks in the literature and they all seek to implement good IT governance practices (Bin-Abbas & Bakry, 2014;Raymond et al, 2019;Robb & Parent, 2009).…”