Environments for information systems implementation in small businesses

Abstract

Top management support and external information systems (IS) expertise, in the forms of consultants and vendors, have been identified as 2 key factors for effective IS implementation in small businesses. This article proposes a framework for IS implementation in small businesses. The framework is based on high-low combinations of top management support and external IS expertise to characterize 4 IS implementation environments. The framework was tested with a questionnaire survey of 114 small businesses in Singapore. Interviews were also conducted with 67 of these small businesses. IS implementation success was measured by user satisfaction, organizational impact, and overall IS effectiveness. The results show that the most effective IS implementation environment is one in which both top management support and external IS experts work as a team. However, notwithstanding the lack of top management support, IS implementation can still be effective if the quality of external IS expertise is high.