A social capital approach to IT relationship management evaluation

In spite of the increasing adoption of IT relationship management as an intervention strategy for improving business - IT relationships, researchers have so far paid little attention to evaluating its impact on organizations. This paper proposes that the impact of IT relationship management on organizations be evaluated by changes in the social capital between business and IT that result in improved productivity. It develops an evaluation framework for measuring the impact of IT relationship management on social capital and tests it in the context of a large financial institution. Findings suggest that relationship management has (a) diminished the immediacy, but extended mediated participation, (b) increased the levels of trust and reciprocity between themselves and business people but not between business and other IT representatives, but (c) considerably increased communication levels and mutual understanding. The work concludes that whilst relationship management interventions have brought satisfaction with the efficiency and effectiveness of work coordination processes, the sustainability of the impact of relationship management interventions on organizations is questionable. Implications for IT relationship management practice and recommendations for best practice development are highlighted.