Organizational View of End-User Development

Assuming end-user development (EUD) is here to stay, we must begin to consider the economic, organizational and societal factors which would impact its adoption and use. Such studies have so far focused on the wider issues of IT adoption and users controlling information processing power (end-user computing), whilst EUD research has focused on the cognitive and technology aspects of programming by non-specialists. In this chapter we describe the start of a research programme addressing this gap. We present our findings from a pilot survey of researchers, practitioners and end-users conducted over several months in Spring/Summer 2003. The survey analysed two group discussions and 38 questionnaire returns to elicit organisational perceptions and views on End User Development, and to help formulate further research directions in the area, including an outline strategy for managing the integration of EUD.

Key words. organizational factors, EUD acceptance, survey of EUD perceptions