IT and strategic decision making

A total of 41 top executive managers in large organizations/enterprises were interviewed about factors affecting their demands on, attitudes towards and use of, information and communication technology (ICT) when making strategic decisions in their work. Poor knowledge management, i.e. poor possibilities to store, reuse, and share knowledge in an organized and disciplined way due to inefficient ICT, was reported to be an obstacle in supporting the decision-making process effectively. Problems with accessibility, accuracy and trust of the information in the ICT-systems were prevalent. Furthermore, ICT did not provide much help with respect to the necessary social interactions in the decision-making process. Implications of these findings are discussed for the design of future decision-support systems.