Validating Indirect Human Costs MEFM Taxonomy: Case Studies from the Banking Sector

This paper focuses on the indirect human costs associated with the adoption of Information Systems. In doing so, the authors establish a need to account for these cost factors during the investment evaluation processes. In moving from a conceptual level to an empirical phase, the validity of the taxonomy proposed is tested by way of a case study that involves two multinational organizations. The proposed MEFM taxonomy allocates indirect human costs to four Information Systems divisions, namely, Management, Employee, Finance and Maintenance divisions. The empirical findings extrapolated from the case study demonstrate that both organizations recognized the proposed indirect human cost as being associated with the adoption of information systems rather than being included within the evaluation process or investment proposals. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings in light of the MEFM taxonomy, areas for future research then being suggested.