Exploring the Contemporary State of Information Technology Governance Transparency in Belgian Firms

ABSTRACT

This article provides an exploratory insight in the contemporary state of IT governance transparency in Belgian firms. Our findings show that Belgian firms exhibit low IT governance disclosure rates in general. We also find preliminary evidence that IT governance disclosure is positively related to IT usage intensity for listed firms, and that listed firms tend to be more concerned with disclosing on their IT governance compared to non-listed firms, given a comparable level of IT usage intensity.

KEYWORDS:

• Annual report
• disclosure
• IT governance
• IT usage intensity
• sector analysis
• transparency

Acknowledgments

The industry partners engaged in the “Board Level IT Governance Research Project,” specifically KPMG Belgium, Samsung Belgium, and CEGEKA are acknowledged for their support in co-creating and resourcing this research project (www.antwerpmanagementschool.be/boardITgovernance).

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the Belgian Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology as one of the authors (Tim Huygh) is being funded by their PhD grant for strategic basic research at the time of conducting this research.

Notes

^1.

^2. This should be especially true for listed companies that are critically dependent on IT for their daily activities (i.e., high tier of IT usage intensity).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the Belgian Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology as one of the authors (Tim Huygh) is being funded by their PhD grant for strategic basic research at the time of conducting this research.

Notes on contributors

Steven De Haes

Steven De Haes, PhD, is a Full Professor in Information Systems Management at the University of Antwerp (Faculty of Applied Economics) and at the Antwerp Management School. He is actively engaged in teaching and applied research in the domains of Digital Strategies, IT Governance and Management, IT Strategy and Alignment, IT Value and Performance Management, IT Assurance and Audit, and Information Risk and Security.

Tim Huygh

Tim Huygh is a PhD candidate in Information Technology Governance at the Department of Management Information Systems of the Faculty of Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Engineering: Management Information Systems from the University of Antwerp and a master’s degree in Advanced Business Studies from the University of Leuven (KUL). His research interests include IT governance and management, and Business/IT alignment.

Anant Joshi

Anant Joshi, PhD, is a visiting researcher at the University of Antwerp and Antwerp Management School (Belgium), and an assistant professor at Maastricht University (The Netherlands). Anant holds a PhD degree in Management Information Systems from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. His research interests include Corporate Governance of IT, Business Value of IT, and Corporate Governance.