Expanding Our View of Information Systems Success

Abstract

The deployment of technology has had a profound impact on the quality of work life of individuals in organizations. Consider, for example, that computer-based applications are expected to empower workers in both a functional and democratic sense. In other words, systems are intended to aid workers in the completion of tasks, as support devices to complete organizational transactions (functional empowerment) and as devices which both support and give rise to new forms of organizational communication, interaction and, subsequently, new forms of organizational structure (democratic empowerment). The specific technical and social contexts in which computer systems are deployed significantly influence the characteristics of the systems and their implications for the workers. In particular, the tradition of socio-technical research in information systems considers these issues important.