Leadership philosophies and organisational adoption of a new information technology

Abstract

This is a study of the relationship between information technology (IT) dimensions and three organizational properties: leadership philosophies, organisational context and IT strategic choice. Six hypotheses were formulated and tested using data collected from a sample of 750 senior civil servants across the Australian Public Service (APS). Attempts are made to show that a direct relationship exists between respondents' perception of leadership philosophies, organisational context, IT strategic choice and IT dimensions. Results suggest that organisational IT is defined by four dimensions: IT deployment, IT skills, IT training and IT impact on the organisation, and that all four dimensions are necessary for the effective adoption of IT. Leadership philosophy emerges as the most influential determinant for effective IT adoption, whilst only certain aspects of organisational context and strategic choice variables show a significant influence of effective IT adoption. It is concluded that the respondents' precaution about the effective adoption of IT in the organisation is strongly influenced by the leadership philosophies held by senior APS managers and to some extent by organisational context and IT strategic choice

Date of Award	1997
Original language	English