An assessment of perceptual differences between informants in information systems research

Abstract

Although survey research is the most widely used methodology in organizational and information systems (IS) research, it is often criticized for the perceptual biases involved in using a single key informant per firm. To mitigate this problem, researchers commonly advocate using more than one key informant per firm. However, it is not uncommon for perceptual differences between key informants to arise in such studies. This study examines possible reasons for such perceptual differences by gathering data through a 'matched-pair' mail survey complemented with follow-up telephone interviews with key informants. The results show that perceptual differences between Business Planners and IS Executives with regard to the extent of integration between business planning (BP) and information systems planning (ISP) may be caused by inherent differences in their roles and responsibilities, by the 'education gap', 'communication gap' and/or 'culture gap' between Business Planners and IS Executives, by the dynamic nature of the evolutionary process of BP-ISP integration, and by the natural tendency of IS Executives to perceive IS processes to be more sophisticated than others perceive them to be. These results should be useful both to researchers, who can use them in designing future studies and to practitioners, since they suggest the nature of, and possible reasons for, perceptual differences concerning IS among top-level executives. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.