Measures of success for lone-user management support systems

Abstract. Management support sytems (MSS) are systems that involve the use of information technologies to support management lone-user MSS are such systems used by managers acting alone, whether the systems have been developed for an individual's exclusive use or for more than one user. Information systems research has been hampered by the lack of widely agreed measures of success. There are two main reasons for this. First, there has been a lack of rigour in the presentation of research findings, particularly in the definition of the types of system that have been investigated. This is particularly the case with MSS. Second, there is often no direct way of determining the effect of an MSS on the goals of an organization in the midst of many other concurrent factors. A classification of lone-user MSS is first given. The many, often indirect, measures of success that have been suggested are then charted. These are then incorporated into a hierarchical framework of organizational goals and intra-MSS measures. Finally, appropriate measures of success to use with the two major classes of MSS are suggested.