Journal of Management Information Systems

Volume 16 Number 4 2000 pp. 11-40

Considering Social Subsystem Costs and Benefits in Information Technology Investment Decisions: A View from the Field on Anticipated Payoffs

Ryan, Sherry D and Harrison, David A

ABSTRACT: Information technology (IT) investment decisions have traditionally focused on financial or technological issues. Responding to what appears to be a lack of payoff in IT investments, researchers as well as practitioners recently have suggested that traditional valuation analyses are incomplete and have called for additional work to identify "hidden" or seldom-considered costs and benefits. The present paper attempts to improve understanding of a chief source of these hidden costs and benefits: those changes in the social subsystem brought about by a new IT.

Key words and phrases: information technology investment, decision making processes, sociotechnical systems