Strategic Information Systems Planning and Environmental Uncertainty: an Empirical Assessment

An environmental uncertainty challenges today’s business managers since higher environmental uncertainty is likely to drive Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) to change business processes. This paper argues that paying more attention to strategic information systems planning (SISP) may increase survival rates of SMMEs, thus supporting the contention that SISP is of significant importance if SMMEs are to remain competitive. This reduces the environmental uncertainty influence on those managing SMMEs. In a postal survey to assess SISP and environmental uncertainty, a questionnaire measuring three constructs namely strategic information systems planning process (SISPP), strategic information systems planning success (SISPS) and environmental uncertainty, was used. Empirical evidence was collected from109 heads of information systems and IT executives. From 15 sub-hypotheses, 9 were supported and 6 not supported. The results suggest that some SISPP phases are more effective in different environment and these phases can lead to the SISPS under environmental uncertainty. Based on the empirical evidence, the paper concludes that the South African SMMEs sector is generally not out of environmental uncertainty influence.