Abstract

This study investigated the perceptual and cultural gap that exists between the users of IT services and the providers of IT services. The researcher used inductive reasoning to investigate the relationships between the two constituencies in four categories: individual beliefs, corporate culture, organizational design, and IT effectiveness. The findings reveal that although the two constituencies respect each other’s contribution, business professionals believe IT services are expensive and unresponsive. IT professionals believe their role as stewards of valuable software is to ensure efficiency and reliability through appropriate standards and controls. As a response to these perceptions, the two constituencies design organizational structures with the hope of improving IT effectiveness. Largely driven by cost concerns, these solutions often address computer-related IT efficiency at the expense of personnel-related IT responsiveness, which further erodes perceptions of IT effectiveness.