Evaluating the Effects of IT Governance Structures in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The existing research on IT governance focuses on understanding enterprise-wide governance, including the major IT-related decisions to be made, the location of decision rights, and governance mechanisms that facilitate decision-making processes in large organizations. Our knowledge about the effects of IT governance structures on IT-use in smalland medium-sized enterprises (SME), however, is limited. This study represents an initial effort to link IT governance to the efficiency and the breadth in IT use in SMEs. Through interviews with executives from three organizations with relatively small IT workforces and firm sizes, a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted. The study found that the loci of ITrelated decisions have a direct impact on the efficiency and the breadth in IT use. In addition, the effects of the decision loci are moderated by top management participation in and the communication of IT governance structures.