An empirical analysis of the association between the use of executive support systems and perceived organizational competitiveness

A synthesis of management control theory suggests four major categories of use for management information: (1) score keeping, (2) improving individual understanding, (3) focusing organizational attention and learning, and (4) legitimizing decisions. A field study was undertaken to determine if these uses form a robust typology for classifying executive use of management information, and how useful each is perceived to be in enabling organizations’ competitiveness. The results of the study indicate that different uses have substantively different effects on perceptions of whether or not competitiveness is enabled. The study lends credence to the position that control and power, to a large extent, drive the perceptions of benefits associated with using management information in organizations.