The Value of Management Control in IT Organizations

Improving the performance of the corporate IT function is recognized as an important challenge to sustain competitive advantages and efficient business processes. This thesis addresses the impact of management control and IT controllers on corporate IT performance. This study was launched in an attempt to (1) learn more about the design and use of management control systems for IT organization; (2) assess the impact of particular management control system attributes on corporate IT performance; and (3) fill a noticeably literary void so that future researchers of IS management and management control would have a foundation and starting point. A research model is introduced in this thesis to measure the relationship between multiple characteristics of management control information, capabilities of IT controllers and their direct and indirect impact on the performance of IT organizations. This thesis is rounded off with a Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis of data from 58 organizations. As a result, various dimensions of management control information and controller capabilities are identified that have a significant impact on IT performance.