Impact of Environmental Uncertainty and Task Characteristics on User Satisfaction with Data

• Published in: Information systems research Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 175 - 193
• Main Authors: Karimi, Jahangir, Somers, Toni M, Gupta, Yash P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Linthicum INFORMS 01.06.2004; The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS); Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
• Subjects: Automotive industries; Competition; Construction industries; Decision making; Design; Designers; End users; environmental uncertainty; Equivocality; Furniture industry; Industrial chemistry; Industrial products; Industry; Information processing; Information storage and retrieval systems; Information systems; Information technology; Organization theory; Product life cycle; Studies; task characteristics; task technology fit; Uncertainty; User behavior; User satisfaction
• ISSN: 1047-7047; 1526-5536
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.1040.0022

Today, more than ever before, organizations are faced with the task of processing volumes of information under more uncertain and more competitive environments. This study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty and task characteristics on user satisfaction with data by using IS and organizational theories. Responses were matched from 77 CEOs and 166 senior managers, who were end users of IS. The partial least squares technique indicated that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on task characteristics. Task characteristics have a direct and mediating impact on user satisfaction with data. Our findings also demonstrated that user satisfaction with data could be better understood by overlapping IS and organizational theories, rather than by treating the subject matter in disjoint fields. The paper concludes with discussions and implications for researchers and practitioners.