Management styles and managers attitudes towards IT: A developing country context.

Successful Information Technology Diffusion (ITD) requires a clear understanding of the organizational context including human and technological dimensions. Towards the establishment of this understanding, this research explores the management styles within a developing country context and the managers' attitudes towards IT. In particular, relationships between certain demographic characteristics and managers' attitudes towards IT are explored. Finally, association between management styles and managers' attitudes towards IT as a part of an e-govemment program is explored.The sample for this research was drawn from a list of the Jordanian Governmental Organizations (JGOs). Lower and middle line managers of public service organizations were selected to investigate the research issues. This research is mainly deductive and includes elements of both quantitative and qualitative methods. A survey approach was employed to achieve the research objectives. Moreover, six interviews were carried out with some managers to obtain insightful data and to enhance the interpretation of quantitative findings. Exploratory factor analysis, bivariate approaches, and general linear modelling were employed to explore patterns of complex multidimensional relationships for various attitudinal components towards management styles, IT and demographic characteristics.Five styles of management that represent two managerial dimensions were identified and ordered according to their preference. Although all these styles were prevalent to the research context indicating the diversity of management styles, people oriented management which represents the New Management Paradigm (NMP) including innovative, democratic, and participative styles was found to be more dominant than task oriented management which represents the traditional management styles including autocratic and authoritarian management. Moreover, the findings revealed that managers were found to have highly favourable attitudes towards IT. Additionally, a significant positive relationship was found between educational level and managers' attitudes towards IT. In contrast, significant negative relationships were found between managers' attitudes and age and organizational experience. No significant differences were found between male and female managers' with respect to their general attitudes towards IT. Finally, no significant relationship was found between managers' span of control and their attitudes towards IT. Managers' attitudes towards IT including computer anxiety, computer confidence, computer liking and computer usefulness were found to have significant positive relationship with the people oriented management styles including innovative, democratic, and participative style except the relationship between participative management style and computer liking which was not statistically significant.Considering the scarcity of previous literature in the research's particular context (Jordan) and its broader context (Arab and developing countries), this research provides an original contribution concerning the effect and appropriateness of management styles and attitudes towards IT on the use of modem computer technology within the context of governmental organizations in developing countries. Unlike previous studies within developed and developing countries, this research focuses on some organizational aspects of IT diffusion and puts emphasis on people's management styles and characteristics as the key driver towards successful ITD.