Exploring Information Technology Governance And Control Of Web Site Content: A Comparative Case Study

J Manag Gov
DOI 10.1007/s10997-011-9200-7

Exploring information technology governance
and control of web site content: a comparative case
study
´
Sylvie Heroux • Anne Fortin

Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2011

Abstract Information technology (IT) governance is a key component of corporate governance. Effective IT governance can support web-based strategic initiatives suchas the dissemination of information on corporate web sites. However, the
IT governance literature does not provide insights about the role of IT governance in
controlling this information. There is also a lack of research in the web-based
reporting literature on the important issue of control of web site content. This
comparative case study aims to explore the relationships between ITgovernance
and the control of web site content. In doing so, IT governance structures, processes
and relational capabilities, as well as web site content control, are first described for
each of four cases. Then, profiles of relationships between IT governance and web
site content control are identified and key attributes characterizing the profiles are
outlined. Findings suggest that IT governance withinfirms is more developed than
the control of web site content. Moreover, IT governance structures, processes and
relational capabilities can be related to control of web site content processes. IT
governance structures can also be related to control of web site content structures
and relational capabilities. This study contributes to the governance, control and
web-based reporting literaturesas an exploratory step before building a theory of
relationships between IT governance and web site content control. Further, the study
has practical implications as it enhances the understanding of the role of Boards of
Directors, senior executives and internal auditors in IT governance and the control
of web site content.
Keywords

IT governance Á Control Á Web site content Á Internet´
S. Heroux (&) Á A. Fortin
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Accounting Department, Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion, Universite du Quebec a Montreal
(ESG-UQAM), P. O. Box 8888, Downtown Postal Station, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada
e-mail: heroux.sylvie@uqam.ca

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S. Heroux, A. Fortin

1 Introduction
Following a survey targeting business executives and heads of information
technology (IT) fromboth small and large organizations, across 21 countries,
representing 10 industries, the IT Governance Institute reports that IT governance is
a priority for most enterprises (ITGI 2011). Indeed, since the enforcement of the
Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX 2002), IT governance has gained the interest of
researchers and practitioners (Brown and Grant 2005). It has ‘‘become a key
component of corporategovernance because of the pervasive influence of
information systems and the associated technology infrastructure in every component of an organization’s activities’’ (Bhattacharjya and Chang 2007, p. 25). In that
spirit, the International Organization for Standardization published a standard
applicable to all organizations with respect to the corporate governance of IT (ISO/
IEC 38500 2008).This standard provides evaluation, direction and monitoring
guiding principles regarding IT in the areas of responsibility, strategy, acquisition,
performance, conformance and human behaviour. Further, by addressing the
financial industry’s risk management issues such as the control of operational risk,
the Basel II regulation issued by the international Basel Committee on Bank
Supervisionpromotes IT security (Van Grembergen and De Haes 2009).
Different frameworks have suggested IT governance mechanisms that should be
part of effective IT governance (Peterson 2004; Van Grembergen et al. 2004; Weill
and Ross 2004; Brown and Grant 2005; Ali and Green 2007; Bowen et al. 2007; De
Haes and Van Grembergen 2009). IT governance antecedents (Brown and Grant
2005; Xue et al. 2008) and...