Eder, Lauren Beth; PhD

                         DREXEL UNIVERSITY, 1998
 
                         BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (0454); INFORMATION SCIENCE (0723)
 

                         In today's global business environment, knowledge is among the most valuable assets of a firm.
                         Accordingly, the accessibility of relevant computer-based information can be extremely important. The
                         growing number of variant computer systems within organizations presents a potential problem for
                         information sharing and knowledge development if the systems are not inter-operable. In recent years,
                         the open architecture of Internet technology has become attractive to business organizations for internal
                         use because it enables the standardization of information system interfaces as well as the connectivity of
                         disparate systems. When Internet technology is used within the bounds of an organization, the network
                         is referred to as an intranet. Using intranets to connect heterogeneous systems provides a mechanism in
                         which information sharing can be facilitated between existing information systems without major changes
                         to the applications themselves. Because the use of intranet technology is a fairly new phenomenon,
                         there is little, if any, empirical research to date that examines the success of intranet deployments in
                         organizations once the technology has been adopted. Using theoretical foundations from established
                         information systems implementation research and innovation diffusion literature, this study seeks to
                         explain intranet implementation success by examining organizational, technical, and contextual factors
                         that may be associated with intranet diffusion and infusion within organizations. A survey was mailed to
                         1,000 senior level computer executives in the United States. The organization was the unit of analysis.
                         Seven independent variables were measured with intranet diffusion and infusion: top management
                         support, organizational structure, organizational size, industry, competition, IT infrastructure, and IS
                         structure. Results indicate that these variables affect diffusion and infusion differently. Top management
                         support was found to be positively related to intranet diffusion, whereas top management support, IT
                         infrastructure, and competition were found to be positively related to intranet infusion. Organizational
                         size was negatively related to intranet infusion. Implications and areas for further research are discussed.
 

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