Communication competence factors as moderators to the relationship between user participation and information quality

Implications to System Development Practice
The results of this study indicate that user
participation can influence the quality of information
delivered by a system in terms of reliability, accuracy,
completeness, value, and content that meet users’ needs.

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COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE FACTORS AS MODERATORS TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN USER
PARTICIPATION AND INFORMATION QUALITY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XX, Number 4, 2009
15
Therefore, if information quality is a goal for a system
development, user participation should be encouraged.
Selecting users who participate in system development
activities plays an important role in developing systems
that deliver high-quality information. Users’ previous
experiences in systems of the same nature should be one
of the criteria in selecting users to participate in system
development. However, users who possess significant
experience in their job positions may also have higher
expectations for the new system. In other words, they may
perceive information quality to be lower than it actually
is.
Another criterion for selecting users is the user’s
communication competence. In the system development
context, users who participate should have skill in
analyzing situations, including communication partners
and how others interact with each other. This skill helps
the users to know how to communicate effectively and
appropriately. Training users to better at this skill may be
another way to improve the communications between
users and system developers.
CONCLUSIONS
The objective of this study was to find the
factors that influence information quality of the system by
utilizing participative decision-making theory and
communication competence framework. Results showed
that: 1) user participation had a significant impact on
information quality; 2) user’s experiences in their job
negatively moderated the relationship between user