Top management support in small business information systems implementation: how important is it?

Abstract

The importance of top management support in information systems (IS) implementation has been emphasized in previous IS studies. But, is it really that important? This paper describes an empirical investigation of the influence of CEO support in IS effectiveness in 114 small businesses. The results show that CEO support has a significantly positive impact on IS effectiveness. However, irrespective of the level of CEO support, external technical expertise, in the forms of consultants and vendors, has a greater impact on IS effectiveness. This finding suggests that the lack of quality technical expertise is more critical than the level of CEO support in small business IS implementation.