Key user roles on web-based information systems requirements

Purpose - To investigate the relationship between key users (defined as their influence) in "information", "purchase", "communication" or "entertainment" networks, and the number of elicited requirements in web-based information systems (WIS). Design/methodology/approach - A lab experiment was designed and conducted to investigate the relationship between college students' elicited requirements for two WIS cases and their social networks. Findings - The individual centrality in "information" networks has a significant positive relationship with the numbers of elicited "information" requirements and total requirements; however, the individual centrality in other social networks has no significant relationship with the number of the elicited requirements. Research limitations/implications - The requirements collected from "key users" may account for most requirements, which is similar to the results predicted by Pareto's rule. Practical implications - The origin of a WIS depends on a few influential users. These key users possess more power than others, and they define not only the "requirements" of the site but also its content or knowledge. The WIS designers may take advantage of this fact. Originality/value - This paper fills the information requirement elicitation gap, while transferring the conventional IS development experiences to WIS.