An empirical model of IT usage in the Malaysian public sector

Whilst there have been many studies to determine the factors that influence the use of information technology (IT) in organisations, few have considered how these factors change with the level of IT use. This paper presents the results of such a study involving the use of IT to support Total Quality Management (TQM). The population studied consisted of those organisations in the Malaysian public sector that had applied for the Malaysian Prime Minister's Quality Award during the period 1992–1997. Three sets of factors were investigated for their impact on the use of IT to support TQM in this setting: external, organisational, and technological factors. Overall, the organisational and technological factors had more influence on IT usage than did the external factors. However, as organisations became more experienced in their use of IT, the major contextual influences on IT usage levels changed. At low levels of IT usage the major contextual influences were organisational. At medium levels of IT usage a combination of technological and organisational factors became important, whilst at high IT usage levels, the dominant factors were technological.