Title: Assessing the impact of information technology in a power sector by fuzzy analysis of variance

Authors: Ali Azadeh; Sahar Talebi

Addresses: School of Industrial Engineering, Center of Excellence for Intelligent Based Experimental Mechanics; Department of Engineering Optimisation Research, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Iran ' Department of Operations Research, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA

Abstract: This paper assesses the multiple impact of information technology at the level of individual. Torkzadeh and Doll's 12-item instrument is used here, which measures how extensively information technology impact on four factors task productivity, task innovation, customer satisfaction and management control. So to assess the equivalency of information technology effect on different departments within the organisation, the analysis of variance is applied for each factor. The traditional ANOVA requires exact input data, but due to the complexity and uncertainty involved in real world problems, it is sometimes unrealistic or even impossible to require exact judgments. Consequently, a method called analysis of variance for fuzzy data is suggested. To verify the validity of the questionnaire, the convergent validity, discriminate analysis and reliability estimation tests are performed. Fuzzy ANOVA seems to be ideal for IT analysis in uncertain and ambiguous environment. It is furthermore superior to conventional approach for such environments.

Keywords: information technology; IT impact; fuzzy sets; analysis of variance; fuzzy ANOVA; power industry; energy firms; effectiveness; fuzzy logic; task productivity; task innovation; customer satisfaction; management control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2014.064564

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2014 Vol.17 No.2, pp.129 - 152

Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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