User information satisfaction (UIS) and user productivity: an empirical examination

In this research the relationships between user information satisfaction (UIS) and user productivity were examined. Two users groups were used to test the following hypotheses:

H₁_A: There is no relationship between UIS and perceptions of decision-making quality for academic department heads.

H₁_B: There is no relationship between UIS and perceptions of decision-making quality for managers within the controller’s office.

H₂: There is no relationship between UIS and objectively measured productivity for managers within the controller’s office.

H₃: There is no relationship between UIS and a user’s length of experience with a system.

H₄_A: There is no relationship between UIS and a user’s age.

H₄_B: There is no relationship between UIS and a user’s sex.

H₄_C: There is no relationship between UIS and a user’s level of education.

Data utilized in testing the hypotheses were collected with a packet of six questionnaires mailed to the controllers of 100 universities. Usable responses were obtained from 107 of 300 controller’s office managers and 77 of 300 academic users. H₁_A, H₁_B and H₂ were tested with canonical correlation analysis. H₃, H₄_A, H₄_B and H₄_C were tested with multiple regression.

The findings can be summarized as follows:

1. Satisfaction with computer processing was correlated with making better operating budget decisions for both groups and helping academic users track activities in research, grant and designated gift accounts.

2. Satisfaction with system related problem finding was correlated with elimination of steps and making jobs easier for managers, and with helping academic users track activity in research accounts, and to feel they have benefited overall from FRS.

3. Satisfaction with the linear combination of inputs and problem finding was correlated with financial transactions per full time employee equivalents (FTE), late internal reports per total internal reports and number of ledger accounts per FTE.

4. More frequent users of FRS were more satisfied. Additionally, UIS and mandatory system usage were positively correlated.

5. UIS and sex were moderately correlated. Specifically, males within the academic group were less satisfied with FRS than the females surveyed.