The Impact of Information Systems Integration on Organization

A Causal Transition Model of the IT impact on organization is proposed. The model is based upon the premise that the IT impact is a multi-phase, multi-realm phenomenon, and that the IT impact in one organizational realm logically transpires to another realm, thus forming complex causal webs among them. Two exploratory research studies, the one qualitative and the other quantitative, were conductea to validate the model in a setting involving major structural reorganization of the organizations' IT function. The research results provide support for the general theory structure of the model. The findings include: ⅰ) the IT impact manifests on multiple organizational realms, with different degrees of strength, ⅱ) the impact on the realms follow a particular causal transition path among them, and ⅲ) the IT impact manifests on and through the information processing aspect of work. The results, however, indicate that people's perception of the IT impact is strongly mitigated by the IT relevance of work, and that the organization is affected as much by the structural arrangement surrounding and accompanying the IT as by the technology itself, suggesting that the IT impact is an organizational phenomenon as well as a technological phenomenon. The implications of the research results are discussed at the end.