Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Improving the efficiency and efficacy of an organization is a major reason why many organizations employ or implement information systems (Curtis, 2008; Chang, 2015). An organization’s information system is made up of the Information Technology (IT), infrastructure; people; processes and business policy and structures (Sieglar & Gaughan, 2008). A disaster recovery plan is a system of internal control and security that focuses on quick restoration of services for critical organizational processes when these operations fail due to natural or man- made disasters (Tamura, Yamamoto, Tomiyama & Hatono, 2000; Sahebjamnia et al., 2014). Disaster recovery planning is all about being prepared for potential disasters, so that when a disaster strikes, the organization’s critical functions can be maintained or resumed. The implementation of disaster recovery plans (DRPs) allows organizations to resume their business operations as quickly as possible following a disaster such as flood or fire (Levitt, 1997; Fiksel et al., 2015). Ivancevich, Hermanson and Smith (2001) argue that because most organizational activities depend on information systems, many organizations simply cannot conduct business if their information systems are not functioning. This argument concurs with Chang (2015) who further argues that if information systems are lost through disaster, this may have negative impact on the organization affected such as financial loss and loss of time to reproduce or regain the information system. Simply stated, the potential loss of information systems is a significant organizational risk that must be addressed by all organizations.
Information systems disaster includes deleting a file or program accidentally to a flood or fire, which destroys the building housing the data Centre (Saccomanno & Mangialardi, 2008; Rodger et al., 2015). An Information systems disaster occurs when the damage results in the information system not being to provide services (Gold, 2008; Levitt, 1997). It is also important to note that information disaster recovery plan is for returning or repairing information systems services but not essentially restoring specific hardware and software architecture (Guster, McCann, Krzenski, 2008; Schwalbe, 2010; Mete & Zabinsky, 2010). The rationale behind disaster recovery planning is to minimize potential loss by identifying, prioritizing and safeguarding the most valuable organisational assets that need the most protection (Levitt, 1997; Sembiring & Siregar, 2013). It can therefore be said that system disaster recovery planning in an organization is therefore a system for internal control and security that focuses on quick restoration of information systems for critical organizational processes when these systems fail due to natural or man-made disaster. Building a strong disaster recovery planning is the goal of every organization as it provides a host of benefits for a firm, including the resumption of critical business operations, minimization of potential loss (Kaur, 2007; Smith et al., 2018).
Limited researches though very relevant exist on the enablers and inhibitors of ISDRP in organizations (Choi & Johanson, 2012; Gopal & Gosain, 2010; Yang et al., 2017). Most of these researches focused on telecommunication industries and manufacturing industries (Mithas & Jones, 2007; Aral & Weill, 2007; Azadegan & Jayaram, 2017). While a somewhat blind eye seems to have been turned on the enablers and inhibitors of ISDRP in the banking industry. This study seeks to address this gap by exploring the enablers and inhibitors of ISDRP in the Ghanaian banking sector.