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Analyzing IT Governance Drivers for Process Maturity: Insights from a Field Study

Delve into the research questions, theoretical foundations, methodology, and results of a study investigating IT governance drivers affecting process maturity. Explore data issues, analysis concerns, suggestions, contributions, and unanswered questions for future research directions.

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Analyzing IT Governance Drivers for Process Maturity: Insights from a Field Study

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  1. Uday Murthy University of South Florida Discussion of “IT Governance Drivers of Process Maturity,” by Roger Debreceny and Glen Gray 2011 UWCISA Symposium Toronto, Canada

  2. Agenda • Research questions • Theoretical foundation • Field study methodology • IT governance drivers • Process maturity measurement • Analysis & results • Contributions • Unanswered questions….future directions

  3. Research Questions • Are there attributes of IT governance that govern the level of process maturity? If so, which attributes are more or less significant? • Are there domains or processes that are more influential? • Are there other control variables such as size or industry that explain the relationship between IT governance and process maturity? • Is process maturity evenly distributed across domain?

  4. Theoretical Foundation • Resource Based View, Dynamic Capability Theory, Contingency Theory • “…provide guidance on the relationship between governance, strategy and resource acquisition…” • Unclear how these theories inform the relationship between IT governance and process maturity • No propositions offered (as promised in intro)

  5. Field Study • Nice cross-section of location and industry in sample of 51 organizations • Developed countries more heavily represented than developing countries • Europe, Canada, US, Singapore: 76% • Mexico, Philipines: 24% • Mainly large firms (avg. of 172 IT personnel, 194 servers)

  6. IT Governance Drivers • Very comprehensive approach to data collection • Decision rights and organization • Governance framework (39!) • Business/IT alignment (24 questions) • Environmental volatility • Size and complexity

  7. Process Maturity -- What • Generic maturity model (Fig. 13 in COBIT 4.1)vs. • Maturity attribute table (Fig. 15 in COBIT 4.1)

  8. Process Maturity -- How • “As is” rating for each of 6 maturity attributes for each of 41 processes for 51 organizations • Max of 12,546 observations (6 x 41 x 51) • Each maturity attribute rated on 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being highest maturity level

  9. Process Maturity – Data Issues • Ratings averaged (a) across maturity attributes and (b) across respondents • Some processes had more than one manager provide rating • Some managers provided ratings for multiple processes • “For a small number of organizations, we collected only overall process maturity level data; not attribute-level data.”

  10. Analysis & Results • Process maturity levels by domain • “…average level of process maturity is very low…” • “More prosaic processes” have relatively high levels of maturity: • 1. Security—Virus • 2. Manage Physical Environment • 3. IT investment—budgeting • 4. Security – network & firewall • 5. Manage data • What can get me fired?

  11. Concerns Regarding Analysis…1 • Regressions give appearance of rigor, but… • Missing data • Table 8 regression (overall) is based on 2095 observations (16.7% of 12,546) • Table 9 regression (by attribute) is based on 1896 observations (15.1% of 12,546) • None of the three theories are relied on for logic underlying the regressions • Lack of independence of observations • Possible multi-collinearity issues

  12. Concerns Regarding Analysis…2 • Factor analysis of “Business/IT alignment” • 41 data points (no. of organizations, N) and 16 questions (variables, p) and • N / p ratio is less than 3:1 • Bare minimum is 3:1, with 5:1 or 6:1 recommended (Cattell 1978; Gorsuch 1983) • Business/IT alignment becomes two factors: “Strategy” and “Vision” • Only “Strategy” is significant in regressions

  13. Suggestion: Data Reporting

  14. Suggestion: Analysis • Measures of IT governance • Decision rights and organization, governance frameworks, business/IT alignment, outsourcing, environmental volatility, size and complexity • Use these six measures to categorize organizations as being high, medium, or low in IT governance • Then look for relationships between IT governance category (high, medium, low) and IT process maturity – overall and by domain

  15. Contributions • First look at process maturity of COBIT processes and IT governance drivers thereof • International focus, allowing comparison across firms in more and less developed countries • Association between process maturity and business/IT alignment is intuitively appealing and validates a priori expectation

  16. Unanswered Questions / Future Directions • Does business/IT alignment lead to process maturity or does process maturity lead to business/IT alignment? • Why is process maturity lower for firms in less developed countries? • What are the consequences of higher/lower process maturity? (On firm performance, internal control effectiveness, etc.)

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