Perception difference between users and information professionals: A case study of TaiPower

Abstract

During the development of information systems, users and information professionals have lots of interactions such as interviews for information requirements, and discussions on specifications. Effective communications between these two types of people dictate the success of the system development. A more sophisticated factor that affects the success of the system development would be whether there is a perception gap between them. In a development team, users and information professionals may have different perceptions on the role and required skill sets of system analysts. This difference leads to different behavior. Likewise, when there is consistent perception of the users' involvement one can expect the reduction of the resistance to the system development. This research is to report the case of Taiwan Power Company on the perception difference between IT professionals and information systems users. By using multivariate analysis, this study found that there are significant differences regarding "the required skill sets of system analysts," and "the expected role playing of system analysts." However, there is no significant difference regarding the "non-material motivation of system analysts."