Rationale of Search for Causal Model
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE SEARCH for causal relationships between these problems
is based on the belief that their detection could expedite the improvement of the
SISP methodology and, thus, the SISP process. The rationale for the search stems from
three areas: general principles of information systems implementation, models of SISP
activities, and descriptions of SISP. First, regarding general implementation principles,
researchers and practitioners alike have long recognized that problems in the
early stages of information systems implementation compound those in subsequent
phases [49]. Hence, the existence of analogous cascading effects of problems (i.e., a
causal model) during the planning of these systems is reasonable and it would be
worthwhile to understand them.
Second, models of SISP activities show it as a multiphased endeavor in which
outputs from one phase form inputs to later phases [39,50]. Because of this input/output
relationship between phases, Raghunathan and King [60] explicitly stated that each
SISP phase guides and affects later phases. This implies that problems in one phase
(e.g., organizational problems existing at the start of the SISP study) are likely to affect
problems in later phases (e.g., database planning problems).
Third, descriptions of SISP have portrayed it as a series of means/ends chains in
which concepts are interpreted hierarchically to develop information systems. Such
systematic, interlinked behavior must have internal consistency [24] or problems
trickle down through successive interpretations (and misinterpretations) to create
further problems.