Information as a strategic contingency: Applying the strategic contingencies theory of intraorganizational power to academic libraries

This research examines the changes that electronic information technologies have caused on power within organizations. Based on the strategic contingencies theory of intraorganizational power, a model of organizational power is developed and tested. Major features of the model include a technology index, subunit power variables, environmental variables, and bases of power variables (structure, coping with uncertainty, centrality, and substitutability). According to canonical correlation analyses, changes in library automation and changes in the environment are related to changes in both the bases of power variables and power itself. The bases of power, in turn, are related to changes in the power of the library as measured by the percent of the institutional budget allocated to the library, the number of library positions, and the perception of power.