39 zyxwvuts Wiksjiirvi, hkka This zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA article evaluates the impact zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA of different management strategies on the sucoess of End User Computing (EUC). Ihe study is based on the empiricalsurveyof sixteen organizations with 151 end users. The malysis showed that accekaw maqpmea strategies resulted in signibntly better success than the controlling stmegies. However9 there seemed to be no clear connection between the existence of a formal information center (IC) and the successofEUC.Instead,anICseemedto play a dual role. If the organizations with an IC were managed by accelerating growth policies, success measures were signifi- cantly higher than if managed by controlling growth policies. In the organizations with controlling growth polick, and an IC, suc4xss measures were even lower than in the organizations without an IC. On the bass of our findings we recommend that the IS managers should critically re-evaluate and adjust their EUC strategies: an IC alone does not guarantee any success. Kkywordr: Bud user computing, Information center, Manage- ment, Success. is Professor of Economics and industry in Finland. !I%iksjiirvi puter sicience and Applied a doctoral degree in Com- athcmatks from the He1 Univer sity of Technology. es for zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc xay organizations face a rar>id growth of End User Computing (ELK) which offers promising opportunities to improve the effectiveness of office work However, it invoh~es new risks, for example, in the form of hidden costs and amateur program- ming. Therefore, management principles and strategies for EUC have become an important topic for both researchers and IS managers. Many authors have proposed their concepts for the management of EUC [1,5,7,8,9,10,14]. The most important distinction between different strategies seems to be the right balance between organiza- tional slack and contA. The concept of slack was introduced by Cyert and March [4], and it was applied by Nolan [ll] in the z~ea of organizational information sy&ins. FAunro and Huff [lo] used the same idea to determine the management atti- Jt&kaHelkki%isakturerandre- search assistant of Business Informa- tion Systems at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administra- tion. He has an MBA from the. Helsinki School of Economics zuxciis currently following the IS doctoral program. His current research in- ciuues end user computing. 4GLs and computer aided instructic Thno is currently acting pro- fessor of Business Information Sys- tems at the Helsinki School of Eco- nomics and Business Adxninistratio~~ He got his master’s degree in 1983 aud kntiate degree in 1987 both at the Helsinki School of Economics. His current research is in systems develop- ment, msPirpZement aud evolution of information systems and end user computir_&