Identifying the Motives for User Participation in Information System Projects

Abstract

The importance of user participation in information systems development has received a lot of attention from researchers. While prior research efforts have clarified many issues related to user participation, the reasons behind user’s participation in IS projects are still unexplored. The study raises the question of what are the different motives for user participation in IS project. The investigation uses multivariate data analysis techniques to propose a dimensional representation of user participation motives in the context of IS projects. The results identify five user participation motives i.e. nature of association, techno centric activity, user centric activity, user interest, and project importance. The results of the study contribute to both theory and practice by segregating the different dimensions of user participation motives that may serve as cues in designing effective user integration mechanisms.