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The Impact of Collaborative Technology
on Organisational Performance Through Intranet
Use Orientations
Mahmoud Migdadi
Department of Management Information Systems
Princess Sumaya University for Technology
P. O. Box 1438 Amman 11941, Jordan
M.Migdadi@psut.edu.jo
mmigdadi@gmail.com
Mohammed Khair Abu Zaid
Management Sciences Department
Faculty of Planning and Management Al-Balqa'
Applied University, Al-Salt, Jordan
Mohammed_abu_Zaid@hotmail.com
Omar S. Hujran
Department of Management Information Systems
Princess Sumaya University for Technology
P. O. Box 1438 Amman 1194, Jordan
O.hujran@psut.edu.jo
Abstract. Information systems cannot improve organisa-
tional performance if they are not used (Davis et al.,1989,as
cited by (Merono-Cerdan et al.,2008). In addition, (Devaraj
and Kohli,2003) showed that actual use may be an important
link to information technology (IT) value. Under this approach
lies the idea that the simple presence of collaborative technol-
ogies (CTs) is not enough to evaluate their real in°uence on
organisational performance. Therefore, the researchers adopted
the view that CTs impacts on organisational performance
should be considered as a multistage process which starts at
adoption and extends to use. Therefore, this paper analyses the
impact of intranet CTs on organisational performance not
directly, by measures such as adoption versus non-adoption,
but through an intermediary variable (intranet use orien-
tations). Di®erent intranet use orientations (e-information,
e-communication and e-transaction) represent actual CTs
use. Hence the impact of each orientation on organisational
performance is empirically evaluated. In order to achieve the
research objectives, data were collected through a postal sur-
vey, from 71 small- and medium-sized (SMEs) located in a
developing country such as Saudi Arabia. Research hypotheses
were tested through ANOVA and hierarchical regression
analysis. The results indicated that di®erent CTs are associated
with distinct intranet use orientations. The results further
demonstrated that there are positive relationships between the
intranet use orientations and organisational performance.
Finally, the results con¯rmed the existence of complementarities
between the intranet use orientations.
Keywords: Collaborative technologies; intranet; knowledge
management; SMEs; organisational performance.
1. Introduction
SMEs were considered in this study because of their
importance for economic growth, employment and wealth
creation in economies both large and small. In most of the
developed countries, the contribution of SMEs to national
economy represents over 80% of industrial production
(Otsuki,2002). SMEs in Saudi Arabia (SA) too, are
expected to play a vital role in the industrial and economic
growth. They can contribute to signi¯cantly more than
50% of future industrial production of Saudi national
economy and they are expected to play a decisive role in
generating employment by providing the many job
opportunities to Saudi nationals (Otsuki,2002). Although
SMEs are characterised for having less ¯nancial, techno-
logical and personnel resources than their higher-level
counterparts, they are the sources of new products and
very innovative in creating and adopting new technology.
Hence, organisations have been channelling their e®orts in
deploying IT applications to support innovation and cre-
ation, for example, communities, collaboration, discussion
Journal of Information & Knowledge Management, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2012) 1250003 (14 pages)
#
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cWorld Scienti¯c Publishing Co.
DOI: 10.1142/S0219649212500037
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forums, etc. (Binney,2001). By far, successfully deploying
IT to support collaboration between dispersed work
groups has received the most attention (Debra and
Snyder,1999). Consequently, organisations that fail to use
modern communication technologies and who do not
leverage their intellectual capital and knowledge-base of
their workers, limit the potential for collaboration and run
the very real risk of falling behind the competition
(Rowlands et al.,2006). This is on line with (Alavi and
Leidner,2001) which also indicated that collaboration is a
critical ingredient for successful task accomplishment and
has become ever so important with the recent popularity
of knowledge management (KM) initiatives, which require
infrastructure capabilities to access and share information
and expertise.
Electronic collaboration and collaborative tools bring
geographically dispersed teams together for virtual meet-
ings across great distances. This results in tremendous
time and cost saving, greatly decreased travel require-
ments, faster and better decision making by enabling
better communication, sharing of information, ideas,
expertise, and evaluating alternatives, irrespective of time
and distance barriers (Bafoutsou and Mentzas,2002).
Fuelled by the overwhelming media attention to the
internet and the explosive growth in world wide web usage
in the mid 1990s, many organisations began to establish
their own internet presence that ran entirely within an
organisation, called corporate portals or the intranet
(Scheepers and Rose,2001;Li and Pak,2010).
Because intranets are not only networks or systems but
also versatile and multifaceted tools for communication,
collaboration, information sharing and KM, intranet
research in recent years has unsurprisingly become more
and more multidisciplinary (Lehmuskallio,2006). For
instance, most CTs are usually hosted on the corporate
intranet (Damsgaard and Scheepers,2000). Therefore,
intranets may be oriented to di®erent, but compatible,
uses which are related to the o®ering of information
online, communications and exchange of information,
and the automation of internal business processes. How-
ever, according to Davis et al. (1989) as cited by Merono-
Cerdan et al. (2008), information systems cannot improve
organisational performance if they are not used. The
impacts that result from the implementation of CTs have
been investigated by both practitioners (Kiely,1993) and
academics (Brown,2000); Karsten 1999). For example,
(Devaraj and Kohli,2003) showed that actual use may
be an important link to IT value. Under this approach
lies the idea that the simple presence of CTs is not
enough to evaluate their real in°uence on organisational
performance.
Therefore, the main question that this study addressed
is: What are the impacts of CTs actual use (intranet
use orientations) on organisational performance? In an
attempt to answer this question, this study empirically
investigates the impact of intranet CTs on organisational
performance not directly, but through an intermediary
variable (intranet use orientations) which represents
actual CTs use as illustrated in the research model; Fig. 1,
in order to ¯ll the gap in this area since few empirical
studies have utilised the same methodology. Moreover, the
interactions of these orientations are also empirically tes-
ted. The organisations selected for this study are pro¯t-
able SMEs which are listed in the Saudi stock and located
in Saudi Arabia because the Saudi stock market is still
maturing and the government is exploring ways to use it
to promote the development of small and medium-sized
enterprises (Rice,2004).
The research paper begins with a detailed explanation
of di®erent CTs. After that, a framework di®erentiating
the three intranet use orientations is presented. Then, the
theoretical model is proposed and the research hypotheses
are presented. Following that, the methodology used for
sample selection and data collection are discussed. After
that, data analysis and results are examined. Finally, this
paper concludes with a discussion of research ¯ndings,
limitations and future research.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Collaborative technologies
The de¯nition of collaborative working varies from person
to person and from organisation to organisation, but in its
simplest form, collaborative working uses information
systems (IS) to enable individuals or groups of individuals
to work concurrently on information, no matter whether
they are dispersed or co-located. The result is that the
working environment behaves in the same way regardless
of geographical location, communication channel or device
(Rowlands et al.,2006).
CTs are applications where IT is used to help people
coordinate their work with others by sharing information
or knowledge (Doll and Deng,2001). According to Alavi
and Leidner (2001), IT is critical in KM programs. (Bajwa
et al.,2005) de¯ned CTs as many technology solutions
which have the capability to enhance collaboration and
facilitate group decisions in task accomplishment by
enabling better communication, sharing of information,
ideas, expertise, and evaluating alternatives, irrespective
of time and distance barriers.
Vandenbosch and Ginzberg (1997, p. 968) identi¯ed
four conditions, under which the implementation of CTs
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`will enhance' collaboration in an organisation. Each of
these conditions alone is necessary but not su±cient. The
conditions listed are: Organisation members need to col-
laborate; users understand the technology and how it can
support collaboration; the organisation provides appro-
priate support for the adoption, implementation, and
continued use of the technology; and the organisational
culture supports collaboration.
The use of digital technologies to enable collabora-
tion is also referring to as e-collaboration (Turban et al.,
2010). Di®erent technologies are used in e-collaborations
(Dasgupta et al.,2002). Table 1shows a classi¯cation of
them, based on DeSanctis and Gallupe (1987), Nunamaker
et al. (1997), and Pinsonneault and Kraemer (1990).
As shown in Table 1, CTs may be grouped in two: The
¯rst group is electronic communication systems (ECS),
whose purpose is to facilitate information exchange and
aim at enabling relationships among individuals or insti-
tutions, employees or customers; and the second group is
team-work systems (TS), where teamwork (processes and
decision-making) is structured and done, TS's objective is
to integrate information and prede¯ned work processes, as
it is the case of work°ow tools.
According to Merono-Cerdan (2008), the main di®er-
ence between these two categories is the versatility of
ECS. Since they a®ect the communication process, their
success depends on the interest of users in sharing their
information or knowledge and on the level of exploitation
of the possibilities o®ered by these technologies. The
°exibility of ECS favours that the group ultimately
de¯nes its use. For this reason, ECS uses can be found
exclusively related to information exchange and also
oriented towards supporting group working in processes
and joint decision-making. Therefore, certain permeability
in the implementation of these systems occurs.
According to the frequency of use, this study speci¯-
cally focuses on four CTs (two of each category), namely,
discussion forums, repositories, shared databases, and
work°ow:
2.1.1. Discussion forums
The discussion forums have been one of the earliest tech-
nologies for collaborative knowledge creation and sharing
due to their simplicity (Wagner and Bolloju,2005).
According to Brown and Duguid (2000a, b) as cited by
Hardless (2007), the design goal of `e-discussion' is to
make discussions useful for relevant knowledge sharing
between practitioners with common interests, and to this
end the design approach recognises the tacit and situated
nature of knowledge (Brown and Duguid, 2000b), and
aims for socio-technically balanced IT use (Brown and
Duguid, 2000a). For instance, text-based discussion for-
ums bring about a `virtual sociability' that is de¯ned as a
pragmatic dimension producing real-time applied knowl-
edge (Bernier,1998).
Discussion forums are simple since once the subject is
set the discussion can be carried on, either with all par-
ticipants online, or over time, where anyone can share his
or her opinion at any time (Bafoutsou and Mentzas,2002).
In addition, various forms of questions can be used to
stimulate good discussions, but it can also be a video
documentary, organisation chart, business report, case
study, etc. (Hardless,2007, p. 176). Anderson and Kanuka
(1997) gave further details about online forums as being
`a method that satis¯es needs in cost-e®ective manner'.
Speci¯cally, online forums provide: Freedom from time;
time for re°ection; opportunities for research; and support
for global communication.
2.1.2. Repositories
One of the best-known approaches to using technology in
KM is the repository of structured, explicit knowledge —
usually in document form (Davenport and Prusak,2000).
Recently, document repositories encompass both explicit
and implicit knowledge; they are a collection of relevant
documents that lists tacit and articulated knowledge from
the experts about the project using textual, pictures and
diagrammatic forms (Fernandes et al.,2005). Therefore,
valuable knowledge can be collected and placed into
repositories for use by others (Gunnlaugsdottir,2003).
Repositories are involved in many di®erent types of situ-
ations in which knowledge is reused. Markus (2001)
identi¯ed four distinct types of knowledge reuse situations
di®erentiated by the `knowledge distance' between
knowledge producers and knowledge re-users. The types
involve shared work producers (who produce knowledge
they later reuse), shared work practitioners (who reuse
Table 1. Classi¯cation of collaborative technologies.
Electronic communication
systems (ECS)
Teamwork
systems (TS)
Concept They support the exchange
of information,
documents, and opinions
Work is done through
them
Aim Relationship Integration
Tools E-mail; discussion forum;
repositories; Yellow
pages (experts
directories)
Work°ow/document
management; project
management; shared
databases; group
decision support
systems
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each other's knowledge contributions), expertise-seeking
novices, and secondary knowledge miners. Each type of
knowledge re-user has di®erent requirements for knowl-
edge repositories.
Knowledge repositories are expected to improve orga-
nisation's productivity, °exibility and innovative capa-
bility by enabling organisational members to share,
integrate and reuse knowledge more e®ectively. However,
in practice, results have been mixed. Some knowledge
repositories were successful (Brown and Duguid,2000),
but implementation failures were common and the inten-
ded users were frequently reluctant to use the systems
(Dixon,2000).
2.1.3. Shared databases
They are databases whose data may be consulted and
modi¯ed by di®erent authorised users within a company
or a team. Shared databases are necessary to reduce or
prevent the repeated typing of data, but in addition
they supplement the system with a wealth of up-to-date
information, thus building the organisational memory
(Gunnlaugsdottir,2003). Moreover, intranet can support
decision-making by providing rapid and easy access to data
and database management systems (DBMS) distributed
through the organisation. First, the data may reside on
remote intranet servers or it may reside in remote databases
which can be accessed through the intranet. Second,
intranet also provides access to legacy data on mainframes
without any need for terminal emulation software (Bruno,
1996). Finally, intranet facilitates access to data that is
extracted and summarised from production databases.
While the intranet can be used to access structured
information (i.e. transactional data) residing in databases;
it can be used to access semi-structured or unstructured
information. The intranet allows some of the models to be
linked to appropriate databases. Models can also be
remotely accessed through the intranet; the models, in
turn, can access appropriate databases, which may be in a
di®erent location, through the intranet as well (Sridhar,
1998). Hence, the intranet not only facilitates remote
access to models but also allows links between the models
and appropriate databases.
2.1.4. Work°ow
Work°ow is the computerised facilitation or automation
of a business process (BP). The work°ow management
coalition (WFMC,2004) de¯ned work°ow as `the auto-
mation of a BP, in whole or part, during which documents,
information or tasks are passed from one participant to
another for action, according to a set of procedural rules'.
A BP consists of a sequence of activities. It has distinct
inputs and outputs and serves a meaningful purpose
within an organisation or between organisations (Stohr
and Zhaao,2001). An activity is a discrete process step
performed either by a machine or human agent and it may
consist of one or more tasks. A set of tasks to be performed
by a user in a work°ow system is called a work list. The
work list is prepared by the work°ow management system
(WFMS) and displayed to the user on his/her screen. The
individual tasks on the work list are also called work items.
Using web-based work°ow technology, BP, part of which
are initiated or performed by users via a web browser, are
automated (Bafoutsou and Mentzas,2002). One of the
great advantages of a WFMS is its ability to separate the
logic of the work°ow from the logic of the applications
that are used to automate or assist users in performing
specialised tasks. This allows application programs to act
as independent computational units and greatly simpli¯es
the task of enterprise integration.
In the next section, the researchers will discuss the
focus (the actual use of the intranet) of this study; that is,
intranet use orientations.
3. Intranet Use Orientations
Intranet is a network built and maintained within the
organisation ¯rewalls, o®ering internet technology and
various contents for the exclusive use of the organisation
sta® (Lehmuskallio,2006). What this de¯nition lacks,
however, is the notion that intranet is built and main-
tained not only for information storage and retrieval but
also particularly for enhancing information °ow, or com-
munication, within the organisation. Consequently, many
companies have started using the intranet as their main
gateway to many of their internal services and work tools.
And many work processes are integrated into intranets; in
other words, intranets o®er not only information about
how to complete work processes but also all the necessary
tools and services needed for task completion (Lehmus-
kallio,2006, p. 289).
Intranet technology is multipurpose, and richly net-
worked IT (Damsgaard and Scheepers,1999). In this
respect intranets di®er from other traditional intra-
organisational IS such as inventory systems, payroll sys-
tems, etc. These systems perform well-de¯ned tasks and
the interchange between various (IS) is troublesome and
limited to relative simple input and output operations.
Intranet technology is the great uni¯er; it o®ers a way to
integrate text, graphics, sound, and video (Bernard,1996).
Thus an intranet can be regarded as an interactive and
re°ective medium (Markus,1987). Intranet is often referred
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to as glue-ware or middleware (Lyytinen et al.,1998), and it
is often applied to build seamless `user-friendly' interface to
(non-graphical) legacy systems.
In addition, intranets are diverse and can integrate
di®erent CTs (Merono-Cerdan et al.,2008). Organisations
can use CTs for di®erent, but compatible, uses. These are
related to the o®erings of information online, communi-
cations and exchange of information, and the automation
of internal BP.
As stated previously, Devaraj and Kohli (2003) indi-
cated that actual use may be an important link to IT value;
the idea that the simple presence of CTs is not enough to
evaluate their real in°uence on organisational performance.
Instead of analysing the direct in°uence, Merono-Cerdan
(2008) used the bene¯ts obtained from groupware as an
intermediate variable. Therefore, not only the groupware
adoption level, but also its in°uence on performance was
considered. Other few empirical studies have adapted the
intranet usage (e.g. Horton et al.,2001). They compared
intranet usage between two companies in the UK. The
researchers con¯rmed that perceived usefulness did indeed
have an e®ect on users' intention to use the intranet. On line
with this thinking, we have adapted Merono-Cerdan et al.
(2008) point of view which viewed CTs impacts on organi-
sational performance as a multistage process that starts
at adoption and extends to use. Soto-Acosta and Merono-
Cerdan (2006) identi¯ed three website orientations:
e-information,e-communication, and e-transaction which
represent actual CTs use. Likewise, these orientations are
applicable in the case of intranets and they will be utilised in
this study. The following will be a brief explanation of those
intranet use orientations.
3.1. E-information
Organisations can use their web technologies to dis-
seminate corporate or commercial information to custo-
mers, business partners, or other stakeholders (Huizingh,
2000). In this sense, intranets can be used as a corporate
channel for information dissemination and data access
across functional boundaries and organisational levels
(Bafoutsou and Mentzas,2002). Corporate informa-
tion can provide insight into the background of the com-
pany (¯nancial statements, quality certi¯cates, etc.) and
commercial information implies providing product-related
information such as prices, speci¯cations, etc. Therefore,
e-information is considered as the use of intranets to
provide one-way company electronic information directed
to one or more stakeholders. This information may be
accessible via distinct CTs, which can be hosted on cor-
porate intranets —for instance, discussion forums, shared
databases or repositories. As the basis of a corporate inf-
ormation service, an intranet has some major advantages
over other media/technologies. An intranet (Baines,1996):
Can deliver information on demand; can guarantee that the
information is the latestand most accurate available; ensures
that information can be distributed from a single source
(although, there is no need for that source to be the source
of all information); allows the information to be `owned';
contributed and maintained by the individuals who would
normally maintain and prepare the original information;
and can act as a central document delivery server.
3.2. E-communication
The intranet is a network that uses internet technology
within the organisation for corporate communications
purposes. Internet communications, besides allowing
cost reduction in comparison to traditional communi-
cation tools, o®er a unique and integrated opportunity
for interacting with several business agents (Soto-Acosta
and Merono-Cerdan,2006). Such technologies facilitate
the exchange of information, collaboration and the possi-
bility of establishing close relationships (Kalakota and
Robinson,2000). Thus, e-communication is considered as
the use of intranets for two-way information exchange.
This exchange of information can vary from more struc-
tured CTs such as work°ows to more open and interactive
forms such as discussion forums.
Many organisations have already realised that intranets
(Yen and Chou,2001): Can empower their employees;
bolster their competitive advantage; improve employee
morale; improve communication among customers and
suppliers; allow employees to communicate inside their
organisations fast and freely; and strengthen internal
communications within organisations. Finally, internet
communications, besides allowing cost reduction in com-
parison to traditional communication tools, o®er a unique
and integrated opportunity for interacting with several
business agents (Soto-Acosta and Merono-Cerdan,2006).
3.3. E-transaction
Over the past 20 years, the economy has rapidly trans-
formed from its traditional base to a new, information-
based economy. In this new environment, work has shifted
from the creation of tangible goods to the °ow of infor-
mation through the value chain (Basu and Kumar,2002).
The establishment and development of work°ow processes
has played a fundamental role in this transition. Web
technologies provide great opportunity for automation of
processes (Fischer,2004). Thus, e-transaction involves the
establishment of prede¯ned electronic processes through
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the intranet. Di®erent CTs can be employed to the auto-
mation of internal BP. Here, initially work°ows seem to be
the best information technology tool.
4. Research Model and Hypotheses
This study focuses on analysing the impact of CTs on
organisation performance through the variables that
mediate in their use as shown in Fig. 1below.
4.1. Collaborative technologies
and intranet use orientations
Distinct CTs are expected to be more suitable for di®erent
purposes. Repositories facilitate access to stored knowl-
edge from experts (Fernandes et al.,2005) and seem to be
convenient for e-information (one-way company electronic
information). In contrast, work°ow systems allow auto-
mation of business processes (Bafoutsou and Mentzas,
2002) and are expected to support e-transaction. Simi-
larly, shared databases are designed to support prede¯ned
electronic processes and facilitate e-transaction. Still other
CTs such as discussion forums enable knowledge creation
and knowledge sharing (Wagner and Bolloju,2005). Thus,
this technology seems to be convenient for e-communi-
cation (two-way information exchange). This exchange of
information can vary from more structured CTs such as
work°ows or document management systems to more
open and interactive forms such as discussion forums. In
terms of CTs classi¯cation which was shown in Table 1,
the researchers expect ECS to be more oriented to
e-information and e-communication uses, while TS is
expected to be more frequently associated to e-information
and e-transaction uses. Therefore, the null and alternate
hypotheses are formulated as follows:
H1.1: Distinct collaborative technologies are expected to be
associated with di®erent intranet use orientations.
4.2. Intranet use orientations and
organisational performance
Croteau and Bergeron (2001) pointed out that organisa-
tional performance is di±cult to explain and that there is
`no universally recognised measure of concept', but o®er
some de¯nition of what they are testing. Additionally,
their paper focused on technology deployment and orga-
nisational performance, and breaks down strategies into
prospector, analyser, defender and reactor strategies.
They showed that the ¯rst two improve organisational
performance; the latter two have a negative link to orga-
nisational performance. Croteau and Bergeron (2001) also
provided some references that help to develop a rationale
for organisational performance as a dependent variable,
namely: Delone and Mclean (1992) urged e®orts to focus
impact of information systems on organisational per-
formance; and Dess and Robinson (1984) showed that
researchers can assess organisational performance via
objective (¯nancial data) or subjective (perception of
respondent) data, and that the results can be very similar.
Organisational performance is the degree of overall
success, market share, growth rate pro¯tability, and
innovativeness, in comparison with major competitors
(Lee and Choi, 2003). Consequently, Balanced Scorecard
(BSC) is utilised in this study to measure organisational
performance. BSC is important because it constitutes
a basic part of the proposed remedies to regain relevance
in strategy and management control (Johnson,2001).
Moreover, according to (Fletcher and Smith,2004), if BSC
is properly implemented, it is an excellent framework to
help managers track the many factors that in°uence per-
formance. The ability of BSC to provide this view depends
upon the construction of set performance measures that
track how successfully a ¯rm is carrying out its strategies,
objectives, and overall mission. The scorecard takes a
balanced look at the organisation because it focuses on:
Leading and lagging drivers of performance; ¯nancial
and non-¯nancial measurements; and; quantitative as well
as qualitative measures of performance (Fletcher and
Smith,2004).
The untapped potential of the intranet lies in its ability
to help management and group members obtain a clearer
picture of what is really going on within teams, groups,
departments, or whole organisations. Norzaidi et al.
(2008) postulated that if the middle managers utilise the
intranet systems, this might leads them to achieving bet-
ter performance. Intranet can show organisation where it
is at and where things are headed so corrective actions can
be taken to improve performance (Denton,2006). For
instance, intranet integrates critical information, and then
visually displays the results in an easy-to-understand
format so groups can see how to close the gap between
management's expectations and performance. Denton
(2006) further stated that intranets, when they used to
their full potential, can enhance group collaboration, focus
Collaborative
Technologies
• Discussion forums
• Repositories
• Shared databases
• Workflow
Intranet Use
Orientations
•E-information
•E-communication
• E-transaction
Organizational
Performance
Fig. 1. CTs, the intranet use orientations and organisational
performance model adopted from Merono-Cerdan et al. (2008).
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e®orts on critical issues, manage change, and reduce inf-
ormation overload. It can be used to add meaning and
purpose to the lives of people and make it easier to make
decisions and correct performance.
Intranet can potentially provide distinct value prop-
ositions to organisations through the o®ering and sharing
of real time corporate information, the possibility of
establishing electronic communications (e-communi-
cation), exchange of information (e-information), and the
automation of internal BP (e-transaction).
Additionally, intranets can be a source of value cre-
ation to the organisation through communications. With
an intranet's ability to provide intra-organisational com-
munication at reduced cost, employees can distribute and
communicate their ideas more readily, enabling them to be
more involved in the decision-making process (Lai,2001).
An enterprise portal gives the employees one place
from which to obtain not only information, but also ser-
vices. It can be personalised to take into account what
function the employee performs, and hence, what resour-
ces he or she needs. Fully automated processes can be
conducted through the integrated enterprise portal, whe-
ther it is signing up for the organisation's retirement
savings plan or registering for and taking an online
training course (Hansen and Deimler,2001). Process
automation allows sta® to focus on more complex tasks or
on exceptions instead of routine tasks. Therefore, intranet
facilitates communication at reduced cost, the creation of
group learning and the possibility of establishing close
relationships.
Intranet can also be used to host discussion forums
where employees can create and share knowledge, which
may be used for group learning. Marc Rosenberg,
district manager of strategic learning technologies for
AT&T, said, `This may be the ¯rst real technology that
encourages true organisational learning' (Cohen,1998).
However, the learning can only occur when the intranet
is used as a strategic tool, rather than simply an oper-
ational tool. Intranet can be used to track group per-
formance, as well as help group members keep focused on
critical strategic issues. The greatest potential in°uence of
the intranet is as a tool to improve the performance and
decision-making capabilities of groups and organisations
(Denton,2006).
The above-stated arguments suggest that the three
intranet use orientations; (e-information, e-communi-
cation, and e-transaction) provide value propositions to
the organisation in terms of better and/or faster work
ful¯lment, which in turn, may a®ect higher levels of or-
ganisational performance. This leads the researchers to
present the following null and alternate hypothesis:
.H0.2: There is no signi¯cant relationship between intra-
net use orientations and organisational performance.
.H1.2:There is a signi¯cant relationship between intra-
net use orientations and organisational performance.
H1.2a: There is a signi¯cant relationship between
e-information and organisational performance.
H1.2b: There is a signi¯cant relationship bet-
ween e-communication and organisational
performance.
H1.2c: There is a signi¯cant relationship between
e-transaction and organisational performance.
Moreover, the above discussion leads the researchers to
believe that complementarities among the distinct intra-
net value propositions may exist. Zhu (2004) adapted
a similar approach in studying complementarities. The
empirical evidence of Zhu (2004) indicated the com-
plementarity synergy between IT infrastructure and
e-commerce capability. The results showed that IT infra-
structure and e-commerce capability delivers a value
proposition re°ected upon organisations' performance,
which exceeds that of any of these e®ects individually.
Consequently, it seems to be logical to think that the more
information-oriented an organisation's intranet is, the
greater the bene¯ts it achieves from online communi-
cations. Moreover, the more °ow of information through
an organisation's intranet, the greater the bene¯ts it
achieves from the automation of the BP (electronic
transaction). Therefore, the third hypothesis posits that e-
information exhibits strong reinforcing interactions e®ects
with e-communication and e-transaction:
.H1.3: The complementarity between e-information and
the other two intranet orientations is associated with
better organisational performance.
H1.3a: Greater e-communication orienta-
tion;in conjunction with higher levels of e-
information;is associated with better organisa-
tional performance.
H1.3b: Greater e-transaction orientation;in
conjunction with higher levels of e-
information;is associated with better organisa-
tional performance.
5. Control Variables: Organisation Size
and Organisation Industry
To assess the impact of the intranet use orientations on
organisational performance, one needs to control for other
features that are of in°uence, that are: Organisational size
and organisational industry.
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Organisational size has often been associated with the
adoption and use of information technology (Damanpour,
1992;Delone,1981;Lind et al.,1989;Moch and Morse,
1977;Zhu,et al., 2004). Teo and Pian (2004)usedthree
methods for measuring organisational size —number of
employees, annual revenue, and number of IT employees —
and they found that organisational size is positively re-
lated to Web adoption. Kimberly and Evanisko (1981)
also considered the causal relationship between organisa-
tional size and IT adoption, suggesting that the adoption
of IT is positively related to organisational size, but
pointed out that the directionality of the relationship is
not always easily de¯ned. Finally, as de¯ned by Gartner
Group (1996), the higher the level of intranet infusion,
the more interactive the intranet becomes. In this study,
the researchers used number of employees for measuring
organisational size.
Organisation's industry in which it operates has been
also found to in°uence its business information processing
requirements (Yap,1990). According to (Goode and
Stevens,2000), organisational industry is signi¯cant in
the adoption of internet connection. They indicated that
service industries are the largest, followed by retailers
and then manufacturers. Consistently, the results of
(Huizingh,2000) con¯rmed that Website development (by
organisation industry) varies across content categories.
6. Methodology
The main objective of this study was to empirically inv-
estigate the impact of CTs (via intranet use orientations)
on organisational performance. According to the nature of
this research objective (the pursuit of causal explanation
by way of inductive generalisation), a positivist stance and
a quantitative research approach were deemed suitable.
The organisations selected for this study are 71 prof-
itable (non-public) SMEs listed in the Saudi Stock and
located in SA.
Small business is de¯ned as a non-public organisation,
not more than 20 persons, in which the owner has ultimate
control over business direction and decisions (Australian
Bureau of Statistics) and has 10 to 250 employees
(European Commission); one that is independently owned
and operated and is not dominant in its ¯eld of operation;
for manufactures, an organisation of less than 500
employees (Small Business Administration). Medium-size
organisations are de¯ned as organisations having 51 to 250
employees (Seyal and Rahman,2003). To ensure a mini-
mum organisation complexity in which CTs may be rel-
evant, only organisations with at least 100 employees
participated in the study.
6.1. Sample and data collection
A wide variety of the industries which have used intranet
such as banking, manufacturing, and trading industries,
were identi¯ed. Then, using publicly available databases,
the companies in those industries which are likely to have
implemented intranet were contacted to check the in°u-
ence of the intranet use orientations on organisational
performance. Therefore, the target population of this
study encompassed 71 pro¯table SMEs, with at least one
hundred employees, listed in Saudi Stock and located in
the Kingdom.
A structured questionnaire consisting of close-ended
questions was developed and approximately equally dis-
tributed across the participants organisations. A total of
500 questionnaires were mailed to the subjects of this
study who are managers from all management levels. 380
questionnaires were mailed back, of which 372 were valid
responses obtained from di®erent industries. Therefore,
the response rate was about 74%.
6.2. Measures of variables
This section describes the variables used for measuring the
presence of CTs, intranet use orientations and organisa-
tional performance.
6.2.1. Collaborative technologies
Using a dichotomous scale, respondents have to access the
presence of four tools in their organisations: discussion
forums, repositories, shared databases, and work°ow
applications ð¼0:61Þ.
6.2.2. Intranet use orientations
This scale was based on Merono-Cerdan et al. (2008). One
item (¯ve-point Likert-type scales) was used for measuring
each CT and also one item was used for measuring each
intranet use orientation ð¼0:80Þ.
6.2.3. Organisational performance
Organisational performance scale was based on Quinn and
Rohrbaugh (1983); Hoque and James (2000), and Choi
and Lee (2002,2003). It consists of 12 subjective measures,
since these measures can be a reasonable substitute for the
objective ones (Dess and Robinson,1984). Hence, multiple
items (¯ve-point Likert-type scales) were used to measure
organisational performance ð¼0:85Þ.
The study hypothesis H1 was tested through one way
ANOVA, while H2 and H3 hypotheses were investigated
through the hierarchical regression analysis.
M. Migdadi, M. K. A. Zaid and O. S. Hujran
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7. Analysis and Results
Table 2shows that Saudi companies implemented the
above-mentioned collaborative technologies (mean
>¼0:91) and utilised the intranet orientations (mean
>¼4:00). Table 2also shows preliminary analyses of
assessing the correlations among the variables. Consistent
with prior work, the results indicated that there is a sig-
ni¯cant and positive correlation between the collaborative
technology variables and the intranet use orientations (13
of 15). The results also con¯rmed that there is a signi¯cant
and positive correlation between intranet use orientations
and organisational performance, the magnitude of corre-
lation is generally moderate and ranged between
(0.2440.366).
Table 3reveals that distinct CTs are associated
with di®erent intranet use orientations, thus support-
ing the ¯rst hypothesis (H1). Speci¯cally, e-information
is made operative by implementing forums, databases
and work°ow since ðF¼13:014;p<0:05Þ;ðF¼4:697;
p<0:05Þ,andðF¼5:186;p<0:05Þrespectively. Also,
intranet may be used as a communication tool through all
collaborative technologies since ðF¼6:270;p<0:05Þ;ðF
¼40:479;p<0:05Þ;ðF¼4:843;p<0:05Þand ðF¼8:78
2;p<0:05Þrespectively. Finally, e-transaction use results
from creating shared databases and repositories accessible
via the corporate intranet and the automation of business
processes through work°ow since ðF¼5:814;p<0:05Þ;
ðF¼7:025;p<0:05Þand ðF¼5:779;p<0:05Þrespect-
ively. This con¯rmed that ECSs are more e-information
and e-communication oriented, whereas TS are more
e-transaction and e-information oriented.
7.1. Intranet use orientations and
organisational performance
The contribution of di®erent intranet uses to organisa-
tional performance is tested through hierarchical re-
gressions as shown in Table 4. The two control variables
managed to explain about 2% of the variance in organi-
sational performance (Model 1). However, a closer
scrutiny reveals that the model is not signi¯cant
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of collaborative technology and intranet use orientations construct.
Variable Mean S. d 1234567
1. Discussion forums 0.97 0.159
2. Shared databases 0.91 0.284 0.195**
3. Repositories 0.96 0.189 0.462** 0.146*
4. Work°ow 0.95 0.221 0.172** 0.162** 0.308**
5. E-information 4.16 0.882 0.214** 0.131* 0.080 0.137*
6. E-communication 4.09 0.867 0.151* 0.361** 0.133* 0.177** 0.579**
7. E-transaction 4.12 0.887 0.101 0.145* 0.159** 0.145* 0.541** 0.576**
8. Organisational performance 4.00 0.539 0.097 0.360** 0.096 0.191** 0.326** 0.366** 0.244**
**Sig <0.01, *Sig <0.05.
Table 3. One way ANOVA of the collaborative technologies and intranet use orientations.
Collaboration technologies E-information E-communication E-transaction
Forums No 3.00 3.29 3.57
Yes 4.19 4.11 4.14
F-value 13.014* 6.270* 2.782
Shared databases No 3.79 3.08 3.71
Yes 4.20 4.19 4.16
F-value 4.697* 40.479* 5.814*
Repositories No 3.80 3.50 3.40
Yes 4.18 4.11 4.15
F-value 1.751 4.843* 7.025*
Work°ow No 3.64 3.43 3.57
Yes 4.19 4.12 4.15
F-value 5.186* 8.782* 5.779*
*Sig<0.05.
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(F-change ¼0:26;p>0:05). The second step (Model 2)
introduces the independent variables and a signi¯cant
adjustment (R-squared ¼15:85%) is obtained. The coef-
¯cients of e-information and e-communication are stat-
istically signi¯cant, but this was not the case for e-
transaction. These results indicated that intranet use
orientations have signi¯cant positive impacts on organi-
sational performance. That is, companies who use intranet
as an informative or communication medium achieve
higher organisational results. Therefore, the researchers
reject the null hypotheses and accept the alterna-
tive (H2a) and (H2b). This is partially consistent with the
results of Merono-Cerdan et al. (2008) which con¯rmed
that there is a positive relationship between e-information
and organisational performance. Model 3 introduces the
interactions e®ects between the intranet use orientations
and a signi¯cant adjustment (R-squared ¼16:08%) is
obtained. The combined e®ect of e-information and e-
communication on organisational performance was found
signi¯cant. The coe±cients of e-information and e-com-
munication are statistically signi¯cant. Also, the combined
e®ect of e-information and e-transaction on organisational
performance was found signi¯cant. The coe±cients of e-
information and e-transaction are statistically signi¯cant.
Therefore, the researchers ¯nd support for the alternative
hypothesis (H3) which is also on line with (Merono-Cerdan,
et al. 2008).
8. Discussion
E-collaboration is developing into a major vehicle for
communication and decision-making within business
organisations (Dasgupta et al.,2002). Speci¯cally, colla-
borative work based on information sharing is becoming
a necessity (Bafoutsou and Mentzas,2002). This study
examines the impacts of intranet CTs on organisational
performance. Although there is already literature
that covers this research topic, this work presents the
peculiarity of analysing the in°uence of CTs not directly
but through an intermediary variable. This variable rep-
resents di®erent intranet use orientations (e-information,
e-communication and e-transaction). Then, the impact
of each orientation on organisational performance was
evaluated.
The results supported the hypothesis that distinct CTs
are associated with di®erent intranet use orientations. The
results regarding implementing the forums reveal that
there is no signi¯cant di®erence if e-transaction is being
operated, while there are signi¯cant di®erences if e-infor-
mation or e-communication is being operated. In addition,
the results regarding implementing the repositories reveal
that there is no signi¯cant di®erence if e-information is
being operated, while there are signi¯cant di®erences if e-
communication or e-transaction is being operated. The
results regarding implementing both shared databases
and/or work°ow revealed that there are signi¯cant
di®erences if any of the intranet orientations is being
operated. These results con¯rmed previous researches
such as Bafoutsou and Mentzas (2002) and found that
shared databases are the most common and needed col-
laboration tools for sharing information at the ¯rm level.
The results also demonstrated that greater e-information
orientation, in conjunction with e-communication, is ass-
ociated with better organisational performance. Finally,
the results demonstrated that greater e-information orien-
tation, in conjunction with e-transaction, is associated with
better organisational performance. This con¯rms that ECS
are more e-information and e-communication oriented,
particularly, when considering forums, which is on line with
Merono-Cerdan et al. (2008). Also this con¯rms that TS are
more e-information and e-communication oriented, par-
ticularly, when considering shared databases and work°ow.
9. Managerial Implications
The results of this study showed that two of the intra-
net use orientations; e-information, e-communication im-
proved organisational performance. Thus, these ITs are
expected to have positive impacts on organisational per-
formance. Intranets reduce the cost and e®orts associated
Table 4. Hierarchical regression models of the intranet orien-
tations variables, intranet orientations interactions and organi-
sational performance.
Control Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Size 0.044 0.011 0.014
Industry 0.005 0.023 0.038
Intranet Orientations
Variables
E-information 0.174* 0.708*
E-communication 0.269* 0.387*
E-transaction 0.007 0.221
Intranet Orientations
Interactions
E-information
e-communication
0.804*
E-information
e-transaction
0.875*
E-communication
e-transaction
0.098
R20.002 0.154 0.285
R20.002 0.152 0.132
F0.260 15.854* 16.085*
*Sig <0.05.
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with corporate information searches, thus improving org-
anisational e±ciency. According to Lai (2001), a collab-
oration system is useful only if it enables employees to
approach their work in a way that bene¯ts business per-
formance. Moreover, collaboration is not really about
technology but how the technology is used to improve
employee performance. Companies should take those
¯ndings into account when they introduce intranet pro-
jects, since the impact of intranet on performance depends
on how the intranet is used.
Furthermore, empirical results demonstrated that
greater e-information orientation, in conjunction with
e-communication, is associated with better organisational
performance. This is in agreement with Merono-Cerdan
et al. (2008). In this sense, ECS was found to be more
e-information and e-communication oriented, particularly,
when considering forums. This technology is the rarest
CT and represents the one that has the greatest impact
on organisational performance (Merono-Cerdan,et al.
2008). To truly engage its users, organisation's intranet
needs to be °uid —it needs to be a real community bul-
letin board and meeting place. This kind of dialogue is
about building the equivalent of a town square online —a
place where people can meet to share news, ideas and
knowledge (Boue, 2008). Lastly, TS was found to be more
e-information and e-communication oriented, particularly,
when considering shared databases and work°ow.
10. Conclusion, Limitations
and Future Research
Information systems cannot improve organisational
performance if they are not used (Merono-Cerdan,et al.
2008). Moreover, Devaraj and Kohli (2003) showed that
actual use may be an important link to IT value. In an
attempt to address this issue, this study analyses the
impact of intranet CTs on organisational performance
not directly, by measures such as adoption versus
non-adoption, but through an intermediary variable.
This variable (intranet use orientations) represents
actual CTs use. Particularly, this study o®ers several
contributions.
First, it shows that di®erent CTs are associated with
distinct intranet use such as discussion forums and
e-communication. Second, it demonstrated that there are
positive relationships between e-information, e-communi-
cation and organisational performance. Also, it indicates
the existence of complementarities between e-information
and e-communication. Thus, existing e-information in
conjunction with e-communication was found to be criti-
cal to organisational performance.
While the study's contributions are signi¯cant, it has
some obvious limitations which can be addressed in future
research.
First, the sample was only obtained from Saudi Arabia.
In this sense, ¯ndings may be extrapolated to the other
Gulf countries, since economic and technological devel-
opment in Saudi Arabia to some extent is similar to the
other Gulf Cooperation Council member countries. How-
ever, a sampling frame that combines ¯rms from di®erent
countries could be used in order to provide a more inter-
national perspective to the subject.
Second, the sample consisted of SMEs and according to
Merono-Cerdan et al. (2008), large companies are more
used to implementing intranets. This segment does worth
a special analysis. Finally, this study has focused on e-
collaboration within the organisation. In this sense, it
could be interesting to include external agents, for
instance, in the customer relation or/and supply chain.
Appendix
Indicators Description
Collaborative technologies
Intranet Does your company have an intranet?
(Y/N)
Discussion forums Does your company have discussion
forums within the intranet? (Y/N)
Shared databases Does your company have database
within the intranet? (Y/N)
Document
repositories
Does your company have document
repositories within the intranet? (Y/N)
Work°ows Does your company have work°ows
within the intranet? (Y/N)
Intranet use orientations
E-information Use of the intranet to inform employees
(15)
E-communication Use of the intranet to receive/debate
suggestions employees (15)
E-transaction Use of the intranet to support internal
processes automation (15)
Organisational performance In comparison to your key
competitors, your company
OP1 Is growing more (15)
OP2 Is more pro¯table (15)
OP3 Is more e±cient using its resources
(15)
OP4 O®ers better quality products (15)
OP5 Has more satis¯ed customers (15)
OP6 Adjust quicker to market changes
(15)
OP7 Has more e±cient internal processes
(15)
OP8 Has internal processes oriented to
quality (15)
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Appendix (Continued )
Indicators Description
OP9 Has better delivery time (15)
OP10 Has more satis¯ed employees (15)
OP11 Has more quali¯ed employees (15)
OP12 Has more creative and innovative
employees (15)
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