Determinants of user participation: A Finnish survey

The relationship between user participation and information systems success has intrigued researchers for two decades. Despite this history there is minimal research on the antecedents of user partic ipation. The tenet of the present paper is that the conditions of user participation are essentially changing. Especially, the European tradition of user participation has focused on blue collar workers rather than professionals and managers. Users are normally assumed to be computer illiterate. The North American tradition has almost exclusively focused on the impact of user participation on information systems success. The present paper exam ined the signi® cance of organ izational level of users, their task varie ty and computer experience as determinants of user partic ipation including age, gender, education, computer training, organizational tenure and job tenure as control variab les. The three determinants were found to have a signi® cant positive eŒect on user partic ipation, computer experience emerging as the most dominant factor. Gender, education and computer training were discovered to have signi® cant eŒects mediated by organ izational level, task variety and computer experience.