Information Systems Evaluation in Practice: A Case Study of Organizational Change

Abstract

Information systems (IS) evaluation is a difficult problem in both theory and practice. While theoreticians are moving away from a positivistic approach towards a more interpretive approach, organizations are adopting a more entrepreneurial approach. We examine such a move through a case study of a large utility company in the UK which was relatively unsuccessful in its attempts at improving the evaluation of its IS. This paper uses an interpretive approach to explain the lack of success in introducing the new entrepreneurial evaluation procedures. However, we argue that the failure was not so much due to a lack of understanding of evaluation but more due to a failure to appreciate and support the necessary organizational changes.