The impact of collaborative technology on organisational performance through intranet use orientations

Information systems cannot improve organisational performance if they are not used (Davis et al., 1989, as cited by (Merono-Cerdan et al., 2008). In addition, (Devaraj and Kohli, 2003) showed that actual use may be an important link to information technology (IT) value. Under this approach lies the idea that the simple presence of collaborative technologies (CTs) is not enough to evaluate their real influence on organisational performance. Therefore, the researchers adopted the view that CTs impacts on organisational performance should be considered as a multistage process which starts at adoption and extends to use. Therefore, this paper analyses the impact of intranet CTs on organisational performance not directly, by measures such as adoption versus non-adoption, but through an intermediary variable (intranet use orientations). Different intranet use orientations (e-information, e-communication and e-transaction) represent actual CTs use. Hence the impact of each orientation on organisational performance is empirically evaluated. In order to achieve the research objectives, data were collected through a postal survey, from 71 small- and medium-sized (SMEs) located in a developing country such as Saudi Arabia. Research hypotheses were tested through ANOVA and hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that different CTs are associated with distinct intranet use orientations. The results further demonstrated that there are positive relationships between the intranet use orientations and organisational performance. Finally, the results confirmed the existence of complementarities between the intranet use orientations.