This dissertation consists of three related studies examining the diffusion of digital dashboard technology throughout today’s organizations. Dashboards, once reserved for the executive level, are now available to managers at the lower levels of the organization. For these managers, dashboards have become an integral part of their work life to support their decision environment, to provide consistency in measures, to monitor performance, and to communicate information throughout the organization. Prior research in the practice literature has shown that dashboards improve managerial performance and organizational performance as well as communicate organizational goals and objectives; however, empirical research has not been conducted in this area to confirm this anecdotal evidence. Using three theories, the phenomenon surrounding the diffusion of dashboards to the lower levels of the organization are examined based on 1) dashboards as a source of interactive management control and strategy alignment, 2) the impact of dashboard quality on strategy alignment, decision environment, and performance, and 3) the impacts on dashboard utilization from the antecedents of information content and task uncertainty and the consequences of user satisfaction and managerial performance. The first study investigates why dashboards have been diffused to the lowers levels of today’s organizations. The primary focus of this study is to develop an understanding about the extent of dashboard utilization by decision-makers and the antecedents and consequences of utilization that is responsible for the widespread acceptance of this technology. The data for this study is collected and analyzed through an explanatory cross-sectional field study utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire. Using data from interviews with 27 managers, a framework is developed that indicates strategy alignment and dashboards associated with interactive iv management control are the primary antecedents that drive dashboard diffusion. The dimensions of dashboard system quality and dashboard information quality mediate the relationship between an interactive dashboard and the extent of dashboard utilization, which leads to higher levels of managerial performance and organizational performance. This study contributes to the dashboard, strategy, and MCS literature by revealing that dashboards are not isolated technologies, rather they play an important role in the execution of strategy at the operational levels of an organization. In addition, dashboards can also function as an interactive management control, which leads to high levels of diffusion of dashboards throughout organizations. Prior strategy literature has examined strategy alignment at the higher levels and this study extends this research stream by investigating strategy alignment at the lower operational levels of the organization. The second study utilizes the IS Success Model to explore the impacts of the antecedents of dashboard system quality and dashboard information quality on the managerial decision environment in addition to the resulting consequences or ‘net benefit’ of managerial performance and organizational performance. A field survey is used to collect data from 391 dashboard using managers to enable the analysis of the relationships predicted in the theoretical model. The theoretical model is analyzed utilizing PLS. The results show that two dimensions of dashboard quality, system flexibility and information currency, have a positive effect the managerial decision environment. The model indicates support for the consequences of managerial performance and organizational performance resulting from higher levels of decision quality in the managerial decision environment. The model also reveals that when the dashboard measures are strategy aligned, lower levels of dashboard system flexibility are associated with improved v managerial decision environment. Therefore, when organizations design their dashboard systems to support strategy alignment, managers should not be afforded high levels of system flexibility to maintain their attention on the key performance indicators selected to align with strategy. This result is a primary contribution to the strategy literature that reveals that strategy aligned dashboards are more effective in environments where the dashboard flexibility is lower. Additionally, study two also extends the strategy literature by examining strategy alignment at the lower levels of the organization, since prior research has concentrated on the higher level strategic outcomes. As dashboards become highly diffused and more managers utilize the technology, the likelihood that dashboard designers cannot provide dashboard content that fits the tasks performed by managers is higher. The third study investigates this fit between dashboard information content and task uncertainty to understand if the fit between the technology and task impacts the extent of dashboard utilization by managers based on the theory of task-technology fit (TTF). TTF predicts higher levels of utilization will increase user satisfaction and managerial performance. Data is collected from 391 managers that utilize dashboards in their weekly work life to analyze the relationships predicted in the theoretical model. PLS is utilized to analyze the theoretical model and indicates weak support of TTF impacting the extent of dashboard utilization. The model supports the hypotheses for the links between the extent of dashboard utilization and user satisfaction and managerial performance. Based on the weak findings from this theoretical model, a second model is developed and analyzed. The second model measures TTF through the mediation of task uncertainty between dashboard information content and the extent of dashboard utilization, while the first model measured TTF through interacting task vi uncertainty and dashboard information content. The results of the second model show strong support that TTF, as measured through mediation, increases the extent of dashboard utilization. This study contributes to the literature by empirically showing that more extensive levels of dashboard utilization are achieved through the antecedent of TTF, resulting in increased managerial satisfaction and managerial performance.

Digitalisering har lett till att kunder fått ökade möjligheter att välja mellan produkter från olika leverantörer. Inte minst inom tillverkande industrier har man sett en skiftning från massproduktion till alltmer kundstyrd produktion, där utbudet av varor är större och kunden nästan helt ligger i fokus vid produktion av varor. Detta har tvingat tillverkande företag att hitta nya strategier för att förbättra och effektivisera sin produktion för att möta dessa behov.   En av de strategier som blivit allt vanligare som företaget använt för att uppnå detta har blivit att implementera ”Lean production”. En strategi som bygger på att man arbetar med ständiga förbättringar för att minska slöseri men som ställer stora krav på att ledningen lyckas utföra den kulturförändring som krävs för att uppnå detta. För att hjälpa ledningen med detta har allt fler företag börjat använda sig av dagligt styrningsverktyg som att mäta och presentera KPI:er men också genom möten för daglig styrning där man presenterar daglig ansvarsfördelning. Att implementera dessa verktyg skapar däremot nya frågor och utmaningar, vad ska man tänka på när man väljer KPI:er, hur ska man presentera dessa och finns det en metodik man kan använda sig av för att välja KPI:er? Ovanstående frågeställningar presenteras i studien och summeras med syftet av studien ” Utforma en metodik för att identifiera viktiga parametrar för att visualisera produktionsstatus vid daglig styrning inom produktion”.    För att kunna besvara dessa frågor har information hämtats både från litteratur och genom intervjuer och observationer på ett företag inom stålindustrin som har implementerat möten för daglig styrning, men som vill utveckla dessa möten med presentation av KPI:er. Problemet är att företaget inte alltid vet vilka KPI:er de bör presentera. Studien handlar om att identifiera viktiga faktorer att tänka på vid framtagning av KPI:er för att visualisera produktionsstatus effektivt. Studien har även behandlat sättet KPI:erna bör visualiseras på, digitalt eller analogt och slutligen har det tagits fram en metodik som ska användas för att identifiera KPI:erna.    Vid utformning av metodiken har litteraturen kombinerats med intervjuer och observationer hos de anställda på fallföretaget där man identifierat de viktigaste punkterna enligt följande: Att presentera KPI:er vid möten för daglig styrning, undvika för många KPI:er, ta hjälp av de anställda vid utformning av KPI:er, att välja KPI:er som ökar transparensen av processer, att mäta och välja KPI:er som ökar företagets konkurrenskraft och som leder företaget i rätt strategisk riktning, att välja KPI:er som främjar förbättringsarbete och som motiverar anställda samt att ge möjlighet för mätning av KPI:er genom IT. Sedan har studien föreslagit att KPI:erna bör presenteras genom digitala tavlor i realtid. / Digitalization has led to increased opportunities for customers to choose between products from different suppliers. Especially in manufacturing industries, there has been a shift from mass production to increasingly customer-driven production, where the range of products is larger, and the customer is almost entirely focused on the production of goods. Manufacturing companies have had to come up with new strategies to improve and streamline their production to meet customer needs and transition from mass production to meet customer needs and transition from mass production to customer-driven production.    One of the strategies that companies have used to achieve this is the implementation of “Lean production”. This strategy is based on continuous improvement to reduce waste but requires significant efforts from management to create a cultural change within the organization that enables this. To assist management in this process, an increasing number of companies have started using daily management tools such as measuring and presenting Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) and holding daily management meetings to present daily responsibilities. However, implementing these tools also creates new questions and challenges, such as what to consider when choosing KPIs, how to present them, and whether there is a methodology to select KPIs. These questions are presented in the study and summarized with the aim of the study, “designing a methodology to identify important parameters for visualizing production status in daily management within production.”   To answer these questions, information has been gathered from both literature and interviews and observations at a steel industry company that has implemented daily management meetings but wants to enhance them with KPI presentations. The problem is that the company does not always know which KPIs they should present. The study is about identifying key factors to consider when choosing KPIs to effectively visualize production status. The study also addresses the way KPIs should be visualized, whether digitally or analogously, and finally a methodology has been developed to be used in identifying the KPIs.   In developing the methodology, literature has been combined with interviews and observations of the employees at the case company, where the most important points have been identified as follows: presenting KPIs at daily management meetings, avoiding excessive KPIs, Involving employees in the design of KPIs, selecting KPIs that increase process transparency, measuring and selecting KPIs that enhance the company´s competitiveness and guide it in the right strategic direction, choosing KPIs that promote improvement work and motivate employees, and providing the opportunity to measure KPIs through IT. The study the suggests that KPIs should be presented through real-time digital dashboards.