Work System Quality Assessment: A TIHPS Grounded Measurement Model

Abstract

Work systems are natural units of analysis for thinking about systems in organizational settings. Literature has not yet considered work systems from a quality perspective, whereby quality can be approached through various perspectives (e.g. user- or value-oriented perspective). This paper aims to combine work system theory with a context-independent quality assessment instrument, in order to make the quality of work systems measurable and to better solve problems that arise in work systems (e.g. IT skill shortage). For this purpose, a literature review, seven qualitative expert interviews and a quantitative empirical validation with a total of 155 IT professionals were conducted. As a result, a measurement model to assess work system quality is developed. The results show significant correlations with work output satisfaction, employer attractiveness, high quality emphasis of organizations and concepts of ideal employers, as well as valuable insights regarding multiple factors that capture work system quality.