The Impact of Transparency-Inducing Management Information System Use on Employees’ Daily Work Performance

This study examines the impact of management information systems (MIS) on employee performance, emphasizing the role of transparency induced by MIS. The study highlights the importance of balancing transparency with privacy to maximize MIS benefits. Managers should create environments that foster self-directed transparency, where employees have access to their own performance data. This allows employees to self-assess and improve their performance based on accurate and timely information, likely to enhance the positive outcomes of effective MIS use on employee performance. Thus, managers should encourage this type of transparency by providing tools and training that help employees understand and utilize their performance data effectively. In contrast, team-directed transparency induced by MIS should be carefully managed to avoid negative impacts on performance. This kind of transparency can lead to feelings of surveillance and privacy invasion, with negative consequences for the performance outcomes of employees’ MIS use. Managers should therefore be cautious about which and how much performance data are shared among team members, for example, by establishing clear guidelines and policies defining what information is shared among colleagues and how it is used.