Journal of Management Information Systems / Spring 2013, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 7–61. © 2013 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. Permissions: www.copyright.com ISSN 0742–1222 (print) / ISSN 1557–928X (online) DOI: 10.2753/MIS0742-1222290401 Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Independent Variables STACIE PETTER, WILLIAM DELONE, AND EPHRAIM R. MCLEAN STACIE PETTER is an associate professor of information systems and quantitative analysis at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She earned a B.S. in computer science from Berry College and an MBA and Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her research interests include software project management, knowledge management, information systems success, and research methods. Dr. Petter’s research has been published in outlets such as MIS Quarterly, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, Project Management Journal, and International Journal of Medical Infor- matics. She serves as the president of the AIS Special Interest Group on IT Project Management and is a Program Co-Chair for the Americas Conference on Information Systems in 2013 (AMCIS 2013). WILLIAM DELONE is a professor of information systems at the Kogod School of Business at American University and Executive Director of the Center for Information Tech- nology and the Global Economy. He received a B.S. in mathematics from Villanova University, an M.S. in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in computer information systems from UCLA. Dr. DeLone’s primary areas of research include the assessment of information systems’ effectiveness and value, e-government and public value, and the effective deployment of information and communications technology in developing countries. His work has been published in various information systems journals, including Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, MIS Quarterly Executive, DataBase, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and Information Technology & People. EPHRAIM R. MCLEAN is the Chair of the Computer Information Systems Department, a Regents’ Professor, and the G.E. Smith Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Information Sys- tems in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He earned his BME and M.E. at Cornell University and his S.M. and Ph.D. at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He has published over 130 articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, European Journal of Information Systems, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems. He is the co-author or co-editor of seven books, including Strategic Planning for MIS, Management of Information Systems, and Information Technology for Management. He is one of the founders of the Association for Information Systems and served as the AIS Executive Director for nine years. In 1999, he was named an AIS Fellow and in 2007 was recognized with the LEO Lifetime Achievement Award.