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Using a principal-agent framework, this article examines frictions inherent in the information system development process between the designer and the user of information systems. It models the process where the user hires the designer to develop a decision-facilitating information system. Potential frictions originate from the user's (1) active participation during the information system design phase and (2) use of the "finished" information system as a basis for decision making in the organization. It is this active participation by the user that distinguishes this analysis from the traditional principal-agent analysis. The analysis indicates that, in some situations, the user's unobserved use of the information system may not create contracting friction so that the designer is willing to warranty the system's usefulness for decision-facilitating purposes. In other situations, however, the potential exists for the user's input to create contracting friction. When such frictions occur, the optimal information system with unobservable user input is of lesser quality than the optimal system with observable user input. This phenomenon is defined as the design dilemma. The article identifies situations related to the occurrence of the design dilemma and analyzes their impacts on the design of information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) applications change the ways in which firms do business and provide the foundations for information sharing among trading partners. This article presents a formal model to analyze EDI information sharing arrangements, which can benefit the organization by reducing costs and enabling optimal pricing strategies. The results of a simulation show that sharing even modest subsets of information can produce superior performance for all trading partners. These results are consistent with choices that have produced significant benefits in practice. Since each EDI arrangement will be unique to the firms involved, general guidelines can only be determined based on evaluating a number of different situations. Although the determination of these rules is beyond the scope of this article, an approach is developed that can be used as an initial starting point to evaluate alternative EDI information sharing arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to explain why some Management Advisory Services (MAS) personnel experience higher job satisfaction and lower rates of voluntary turnover than others. The research investigates whether job satisfaction and voluntary turnover are influenced by individual differences in a variety of psychological characteristics. Information was gathered from experienced MAS personnel and evaluated by using a path-analytic approach. The study results imply those MAS personnel who possess relatively high achievement needs, the Type A personality, and an influence orientation are likely to experience less work stress, greater job satisfaction and lower rates of voluntary turnover than their contemporaries. Knowledge of an individual's psychological characteristics might allow a firm's supervisory personnel to modify the work environment where possible to allow the individuals the opportunity to satisfy their various needs. These findings have potential implications for the management and hiring practices of firms that employ MAS designers/consultants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of several personal characteristics of accounting professionals (gender, tenure, achievement motivation, influence orientation, and A/B personality) on selected determinants of personnel turnover (work-related stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions). The results indicate that an accounting professional's personal characteristics affect the individual's turnover intentions directly and/or through two intervening variables, work-related stress and job satisfaction. Tenure and gender also were found to directly affect turnover intentions. An individual's influence-orientation was observed to exert a direct impact upon the auditor's turnover intentions as well as an indirect effect through job satisfaction. Type A personality profile was found to have no effect on work-related stress; instead. Type A personality traits have a direct impact upon the auditor's turnover intentions as well as an indirect effect through job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]