1. ¹School of Information Systems, Technology & Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2. ²Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

Correspondence: D Bunker, School of Information Systems, Technology & Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. Tel: +61 2 9385 4255; Fax: +61 2 9662 4061; E-mail: d.bunker@unsw.edu.au

Abstract

This paper explains the development of a skills-focused approach that can assist organisations to better anticipate hurdles to successful information systems (IS) adoption. This approach is utilised in an interpretive field study in an Australian information technology company. From a perspective that views IS as tools, the approach is used to analyse the management control skills required to use a specific management IS. A skills match between the set of management control skills assumed by the toolmaker and the skills possessed by the tool user shows why a group of users with a high degree of match adopted the tool, while another one with a low degree of match did not do so. The study thus demonstrates that the skills-focused approach is a valid and effective way of determining the appropriateness of an IS.