An empirical investigation into the social impact of information systems at a tertiary institution in a developing country

Abstract

This study explores the problems that exist when society interacts with Information Systems (IS). IS brings expected and unexpected implications that may include social, environmental and IS failures. The problem is that these systems were developed without taking into consideration the impact of IS on its users. The organisation that is studied is North West University, Mafikeng Campus. A quantitative research approach was used for this study. Results indicate that a small number of the respondents were involved in the planning and development of the NWU IS and because of this, the social impact of users was not taken into account. The study suggests some guidelines that can be followed by developers of the university’s IS when developing and implementing IS in future.