International Journal of Knowledge and Research in Management & E-Commerce Vol.4, Issue 3, July, 2014
The Relationship between System Quality, Information Quality, and
Organizational Performance
Yaser Hasan Al-Mamary, Alina Shamsuddin , Nor Aziati
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Faculty of Technology Management and Business, 86400 Malaysia
*Corresponding author: yaser_almamary@yahoo.com
Abstract : The system that used modern technologies
can present information to users in an easy-tounderstand format enabling them to use information
systems effectively and improve the performance ,
high quality of the system leads to high quality of the
information .The high quality of information helps
organizations in managing their business processes ,
making decisions , and improve organizational
performance. The aim of this study is to clarify the
concept of system quality, information quality ,and
organizational performance. In addition explain the
relationship between system quality , information
quality and organizational performance. This paper
reviews other researches. Synthesizing from the
literature , We hypothesize a positive relationship
between system quality , information quality and
organizational performance.
Keywords : Information Systems, System Quality,
Information Quality, Organizational Performance.
1. INTRODUCTION
There is no doubt that a good system in the organizations
will produce good information and this information will
effect on the organization as a whole. According to Gorla
[1] system quality and information quality are measures
of information systems quality . For example, system
quality represents the quality of information processing
itself, which is characterized by employment of state-ofthe-art technology, a system offering key functions and
features , and software that is user friendly, easy to learn,
and easily maintainable .Information quality, a concept
that is related to the quality of information system
outputs, can be described in terms of outputs that are
useful for business users, relevant for decision making,
and easy-to-understand (representing IS quality as value)
as well as outputs that meet users’ information
specifications (representing IS quality as conformance to
specification) . According to Lee ,et al.[2] Information
quality has become a critical concern of organizations
and an active area of information systems research.
Therefore, it is important to any organization to attention
on the system quality to the improve the quality of
information produced as well as the improvement of the
organizational performance of the organization.
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The theoretical background is organized into three
sections. The first section describes IS success models.
Print-ISSN: 2231-203X e-ISSN: 2231-0339
The second section describe system quality, and the third
section describes the information quality.
2.1 IS SUCCESS MODELS
Delone and Mclean [3] performed a review of the
research published during the period 1981–1987, and
created taxonomy of IS success based upon this review.
In their 1992 paper, they identified six variables or
components of IS success: system quality, information
quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and
organizational impact Petter et al [4]. System quality is
one of the most studied dimensions of IS success is
system quality. It refers to measures of the information
processing system itself, basically how well the hardware
and the software work together. Meanwhile Information
quality is measures of information system output rather
than measure the quality of the system performance, other
IS researchers have preferred to focus on the quality of
the information system output, namely, the quality of the
information that the system produces, primarily in the
form of reports [3].
In addition Delone and Mclean [3] state that system use
has been proposed as a success measure in many IS
conceptual models and empirical studies. System use is
the degree and manner in which staff and customers
utilize the capabilities of an information system. For
example: amount of use, frequency of use, nature of use,
appropriateness of use, extent of use, and purpose of use
[4]. Meanwhile User satisfaction is considered one of the
most important measures when investigating overall IS
success [5]. Petter and Mclean [6] defined user
satisfaction as Approval or likeability of an IS and its
output .According to Delone & Mclean [3] user
satisfaction is recipient response to the use of the output
of an information system.
In addition Delone and Mclean [3] define individual
impact as the effect of information on the behavior of a
recipient and indicate that it is closely related to an
individual’s performance. Moreover organizational
impact is the effect of information system on
organizational performance. There are a lot of items for
measure the organizational impact such as staff reduction,
overall productivity gains, increased revenues, increased
sales, increased profits, increased work volume, product
quality, and contribution to achieving goals etc [3]
.Moreover organizational performance is accumulated
end results of all the organization's work processes and
activities [7].
7
International Journal of Knowledge and Research in Management & E-Commerce Vol.4, Issue 3, July, 2014
2.2 SYSTEM QUALITY
2.3 INFORMATION QUALITY
2.2.1 System
2.3.1 Data and Information
According to Ramachandra and Srinivas [8] a system is
set of elements joined together to achieve common
objectives i.e. group of elements organized with a
purpose. The systems often have multiple goals. The
system utilizes computer hardware and software, manual
procedures, management and decision models and
database. A system is made up of sub-system, which may
be composed to further sub-system. Sub-systems send
and receive data from each other. According to O’Brien
and Marakas [9] a system is a set of interrelated
components, with a clearly defined boundary, working
together to achieve a common set of objectives by
accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized
transformation process. Many examples of systems can
be found in the physical and biological sciences, in
modern technology, and in human society. Thus, we can
talk of the physical system of the sun and its planets, the
biological system of the human body, the technological
system of an oil refinery, and the socioeconomic system
of a business organization. According to Belle, et al. [10]
a system is an organized assembly of components with
special relationships between the components. According
to Hardcastle [11] a system can be defined as a collection
of components that work together towards a common
goal. The objective of a system is to receive inputs and
transform these into outputs.
The word data is the plural of datum, though data
commonly represents both singular and plural forms.
Data are raw facts or observations, typically about
physical phenomena or business transactions. Data is raw
unprocessed facts and figures that have no context or
purposeful meaning and information is processed data
that has meaning and is presented in a context [12]. Data
can take many forms, including traditional alphanumeric
data, composed of numbers and alphabetical and other
characters that describe business transactions and other
events and entities. Text data, consisting of sentences and
paragraphs used in written communications; image data,
such as graphic shapes and figures; and audio data, the
human voice and other sounds, are also important forms
of data. According to Shim [13] Data are usually the
input of a management information system (MIS). After
data are processed by the MIS, information will be
generated. Users can then use information for decision
making. Data are normally organized into files’ tables,
and files are organized into database. Users can retrieve
data as input of application software and produce
information as output. Information is a collection of facts
organized or processed in such a way that they have
additional value for further use. Information is valuable
and useful because it can help decision makers.
According to Hardcastle [11] Data is a raw fact and can
take the form of a number or statement such as a date or a
measurement .information is generated through the
transformation of data. According to O’Brien and
Marakas [9] Information as data that have been converted
into a meaningful and useful context for specific end
users. According to Ramachandra and Srinivas [8]
information is the data that is processed in a form which
helps the management to take decisions i.e. it is the data
that have been put into a meaningful and useful context
and communicated to a recipient who uses it to make
decisions. The relation of data to information is that of
raw material to finished product. The word information is
a processed data, useful or relevant data, data with
surprise value, data which is useful in the decision
making process. Figure 1 explain how to transforming
Data into Information [14].
2.2.2 System Quality
System quality is the desirable characteristics of an
information system. For example ease of use, system
flexibility ,system reliability ,ease of learning,
intuitiveness , sophistication , response time [4]. Ease of
use is the degree to which the users perceived that by
using IS they need less effort to use the system. In
addition a quality of IS needs to be flexible enough in
order for the user to use the system .Flexible IS means the
ability to customize the system based on the conditions
and the internal and external changes .The lower the
flexibility of the system, the lower the user's satisfaction
which later impacts the user's engagement to the system.
Moreover reliability is important indicators of quality IS
.Reliability is defined as the degree of which the users
can trust the IS. in addition ease to learn is important
indicators of quality IS . Ease to learning is the degree to
which users perceived that the system easy to learn. as
well as system features of intuitiveness, sophistication,
and response times are important indicators of quality IS.
Response time is the length of time taken by a system to
response to an instruction. Longer system response times
may cause lower satisfaction of users.
Print-ISSN: 2231-203X e-ISSN: 2231-0339
Figure 1: Transforming Data into Information
2.3.2 Information Systems
For the last twenty years, different kinds of information
systems are developed for different purposes, depending
on the need of the business. Each plays a different role in
organizational hierarchy and management operations
[15]. According to O’Brien, & Marakas, [9] information
8
International Journal of Knowledge and Research in Management & E-Commerce Vol.4, Issue 3, July, 2014
system (IS) can be any organized combination of people,
hardware, software, communications networks, data
resources, and policies and procedures that stores,
retrieves, transforms, and disseminates information in an
organization.
2.3.3 Information quality
Information quality is the desirable characteristics of the
system
outputs.
For
example
relevance,
understandability, accuracy, conciseness, completeness,
currency, timeliness, usability [4]. The output of the
information systems should to be relevant to the purpose
for which it is required, easy to understand, accurate or
less error, concise, complete or contains all the required
information, currency, quick availability and timely to
support information needs, and usability. According to
Al-Mamary et al [16] A number of researchers consider
information quality as important factor to MIS success in
organization.
2.3.4 Characteristics of Information Quality
Accuracy
Accuracy means how accurate is the information or how
much error does it contain? [10] .Information needs to be
accurate enough for the use to which it is going to be put
[12]. MIS information should be accurate and avoid any
inclusions of estimates or probable costs .
Relevance
Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it
is required. It must be suitable. What is relevant for one
manager may not be relevant for another [12] .According
to Belle, et al. (2001) .Relevance means how pertinent is
the information to the question? According to Lee ,et al.
[2] measures of relevance are this information is useful to
our work, this information is relevant to our work, this
information appropriate for our work, and this
information is applicable to our work .
Completeness
Information should contain all the details required by the
user [12]. Completeness means Does it contain all the
important facts? [10]. According to Lee ,et al. [2]
measures of completeness is this information includes all
necessary values .This information is complete .This
information is sufficiently complete for our needs. This
information covers the needs of our tasks. This
information has sufficient breadth and depth for our task.
According to Kahn, et al. [17] completeness is the extent
to which information is not missing and is of sufficient
breadth and depth for the task at hand .
Print-ISSN: 2231-203X e-ISSN: 2231-0339
Timeliness
Information must be on time for the purpose for which it
is required. Information received too late will be
irrelevant [12]. Data must be available for the intended
use within a reasonable time period. According to Lee ,et
al.[2].measures of timeliness are This information is
sufficiently timely, This information is sufficiently
current for our work, this information sufficiently up-todate for our work. According to Kahn, et al. [17].
Timeliness is the extent to which the information is
sufficiently up-to-date for the task at hand.
Conciseness
According to Kahn, et al. [17] concise representation is
the extent to which information is compactly represented.
According to Patterson [12] information should be in a
form that is short enough to allow for its examination and
use. There should be no extraneous information.
According to Lee ,et al. [2] measures of concise
representation are this information is formatted
compactly, this information is presented concisely, this
information is presented in a compact form, and the
representation of this information is compact and concise .
Appropriate Amount of Information
According to Kahn, et al. [17] appropriate amount of
information is the extent to which the volume of
information is appropriate for the task at hand. According
to Lee ,et al.[2] measures of appropriate Amount are the
amount of information sufficient for our needs; the
amount of information is neither too much nor too little .
Consistency
According to Lee ,et al. [2] measures of consistent
representation are this information is consistently
presented in the same format, this information is
presented consistently. This information is represented in
a consistent format. According to Kahn, et al. [17]
consistent representation is the extent to which
information is presented in the same format .
Understandability
According to Lee ,et al. [2]
measures of
understandability are this information is easy to
understand, the meaning of this information is to
understand, this information is easy to comprehend.
According to Kahn, et al. [17] understandability is the
extent to which information is easily comprehended .
Accessibility
According to Kahn, et al. [17] accessibility is the extent
to which information is available, or easily and quickly
retrievable. According to Patterson [12] information
should be easy to obtain or access. According to Lee ,et
9
International Journal of Knowledge and Research in Management & E-Commerce Vol.4, Issue 3, July, 2014
al. [2] measures of accessibility are easily retrievable,
easily accessible, easily obtainable and quickly accessible
when needed.
information systems and improve the organizational
performance. The quality of the system and quality of the
information are considered as a key factors affecting IS
acceptance and improve the organizational performance.
3. ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Organizational performance is accumulated end results of
all the organization's work processes and activities. The
common measures for organizational performance are
organizational
productivity
and
organizational
effectiveness. Organizational productivity is a measure of
how efficiently employees do their work. Organizational
effectiveness is measure of how appropriate
organizational goals are and how well an organization is
achieving those goals [7]. There are a lot of measures for
the organizational impact and these measures differ from
one researcher to another.
The authors would like to thank Faculty of Technology
Management and Business UTHM for help. In addition
thank ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research in Yemen for support.
4.
THE
RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
INFORMATION QUALITY , SYSTEM QUALITY ,
AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Gorla et al. [1] assume that system quality is positively
associated with information quality and organizational
impact, and information quality is positively associated
with organizational impact. Raymond and Bergeron [18]
confirms that the quality of information output by a PMIS
is strongly associated to the technical and service aspects
of the system, that is, to system quality. According to
Hasan et al. [19] there is significant relationship between
system quality and information quality.
Figure 2: The relationship between system quality,
information quality , and organizational performance
5. CONCLUSION
The quality of the system have a significant impact on the
acceptance of the system. In addition its effect on the
efficiency and effectiveness of the
organizational
performance in organizations. That's where the system
that is ease of use and easy of learn will produce good
quality of information. Moreover information quality
will have a significant impact on the acceptance of the
Print-ISSN: 2231-203X e-ISSN: 2231-0339
REFERENCES
1.Gorla ,N.,& Somers ,T.M.,& Wong ,B. (2010) Organizational impact
of system quality, information quality, and service quality, Journal of
Strategic Information Systems, Vol.19, pp.207–228.
2.Lee, Y. W. , & Strong, D. M. ,& Kahn, B. K. ,& Wang, R. Y. (2002).
AIMQ: a methodology for information quality assessment. Information
& Management, vol.40,pp. 133–146.
3.Delone, W. H., & Mclean, E. R. (1992). Information Systems
Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable, pp.60-95.
4.Petter ,S., & DeLone, W., & McLean,E. (2008). Measuring
information systems success: models, dimensions, measures, and
interrelationships. European Journal of Information Systems, vol.17,pp.
236–263.
5.Urbach ,N.,& Smolnik ,S.,& Riempp,G. (2010)An empirical
investigation of employee portal success. The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems ,Vol. 19,pp. 184–206.
6.Petter ,S., & McLean,E.R. (2009). A meta-analytic assessment of the
DeLone and McLean IS success model: An examination of IS success at
the individual level. Information & Management, vol.46,pp. 159–166.
7.Robbins ,S.P., & Coulter, M. (2002) Management, 7 th edition,
Prentice Hall.
8.Ramachandra , C.G. ,& Srinivas ,T.R. (2012). Acceptance and usage
of management information system in small scale and medium to large
scale industries International Conference On Advances In Engineering,
Science And Management.
9.O’Brien ,J.A.,& Marakas ,G.M. (2007) Management information
systems -10th ed., by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The
McGraw-Hill Companies.
10.Belle, J-P.V. ,& Eccles ,M.G., & Nash ,J.M. (2001) Discovering
Information Systems.
11.Hardcastle ,E (2011) Business Information Systems, Ventus
publishing ApS.
12.Patterson ,A. (2005) Information Systems - Using Information,
Learning and Teaching Scotland.
13.Shim ,J.K. (2000) Information Systems and Technology for the Noninformation Systems Executive, by CRC Press LLC.
14. Yaser Hasan Al-Mamary, Alina Shamsuddin, and Nor Aziati,
(2014) “The Meaning of Management Information Systems and its Role
in Telecommunication Companies in Yemen.” American Journal of
Software Engineering, vol. 2, no. 2 ,pp.22-25.
15. Al-Mamary ,Y.H. , & Shamsuddin,A., & Aziati ,N. (2014), The Role of
Different Types of Information Systems in Business Organizations : A
Review, International Journal of Research ,Vol.1 ,Issue.7,pp.333-339.
16. Al-Mamary ,Y.H. , & Shamsuddin,A., & Nor Aziati, A.H. (2014)
Key factors enhancing acceptance of management information systems
in Yemeni companies, Journal of Business and Management Research,
Volume. 5 , pp. 108-111.
17.Kahn, B. K. ,& Strong, D. M. , & Wang, R. Y. (2002). Information
quality benchmarks: product and service performance. Communications
of the ACM, Vol. 45, No. 4ve ,184–192.
18.Raymond, L., & Bergeron, F. (2008). Project management
information systems: An empirical study of their impact on project
managers and project success. International Journal of Project
Management, 26 (2), 213- 220.
19.Hasan,Y., & Shamsuddin,A., & Aziati ,N. (2013), The Impact of
Management Information Systems adoption in Managerial Decision
Making : A Review, The International Scientific Journal of
Management Information Systems ,Vol.8 ,No.4,pp.010-017.
10