Information Technology Governance In Organizations Research Articles

Determinants of Effective Information Technology Governance

This study examines relations between the overall level of effective information technology (IT) governance and five commonly advocated individual mechanisms of IT governance. It extends the examination of individual IT governance mechanisms to include a wider number of mechanisms, justifies the mechanisms investigated via agency theory, seeks to relate these mechanisms specifically to a perceived overall level of effective IT governance in organizations, and attempts to mitigate the problems of limited generalizability and selection bias by employing a survey and generalized sampling research methodology. The results from a survey of professional auditors reveal significant positive relations between the overall level of effective IT governance and three IT governance mechanisms: IT steering committees, senior management involvement in IT, and corporate performance measurement systems. Ex‐post sensitivity analyses reveal that the primary findings are qualitatively similar across internal auditors and external auditors, as well as information systems auditors (IS) and non‐IS auditors.

The Impact of Mergers & Acquisitions on IT Governance Structures

Developing information technology (IT) governance structures within an organization has always been challenging. This is particularly the case in organizations that have achieved growth through mergers and acquisitions. When the acquired organizations are geographically located in different regions than the host enterprise, the factors affecting this integration and the choice of IT governance structures are quite different than when this situation does not exist. This study performs an exploratory examination of the factors that affect the choice of IT governance structures in organizations that grow through mergers and acquisitions in developing countries using the results of a case study of an international telecommunications company. We find that in addition to the commonly recognized factors such as government regulation, competition and market stability, organizational culture, and IT competence, top management’s predisposition toward a specific business strategy and governance structure can profoundly influence the choice of IT governance in organizations. Managerial implications are discussed.