Towards a theory of executive information systems

Individual and organizational effectiveness is a central construct for many computer-based support systems for top-level managers and executives. It is suggested that the recent development of an effectiveness construct has made it a possible framework for understanding executive information systems (EIS). The authors present and discuss the use of the competing values framework of organizational effectiveness that has been developed by R. Quinn and his associates (1983, 1988). They then map different types of information systems into this framework and use it to explicate the concept of EIS. They also discuss implications of this perspective for design and research