The Impact of Organizational Memory Information Systems: The Case of Product Information Management Systems

This research attempts to determine whether case studies from fieldwork and secondary data on product information management systems (PIMS) map to Stein and Zwass ’ (I 995) framework for an organizational memory information system (OTIS). Overall, we$nd support for the two layers in the framework, andfor organizational effectiveness from an OMIS. The secondary data suggest first and second order measures for future empirical research. The fielaF/ork data supports the jrst order measures and second order communication improvements but as yet we cannotfind evidence of second order productivity improvements. Furthermore, our data suggests that PIA4S implementation problems focus on the user interface, which can be located as points on the framework. These findings increase our understanding of OTIS and suggest improvements in designing PIMS.