Measuring User Participation, User Involvement, and User Attitude

Defining user participation as the activities performed by users during systems development, user involvement as the importance and personal relevance of a system to its user, and user attitude as the affective evaluation of a system by the user, this study aims to: (1) develop separate measures of user participation, user involvement, and user attitude, (2) identify key dimensions of each construct, and (3) investigate the relationships among them. Responses from users in organizations developing new information systems were used to create an overall scale measuring user participation (along with three subscales reflecting the dimensions of responsibility, user-IS relationship, and hands-on activities), an overall scale measuring user involvement (along with two subscales reflecting the dimensions of importance and personal relevance), and a scale measuring user attitude. Analysis of the data provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the three constructs and their dimensions. User participation has long been considered a key variable in the successful development of information systems. However, past research has failed to clearly demonstrate its benefits. The measures developed in this study provide a useful starting point for deciphering the precise nature of the relationship among user participation, involvement, and attitude during systems implementation.