Information Systems Research (eBook)

Contents 6
Foreword 12
Preface 16
Conference Chairs 20
Associate Editors 21
Reviewers 22
1 Young Turks, Old Guardsmen, and the Conundrum of the Broken Mold: A Progress Report on Twenty Years of Information Systems Research 25
1 INTRODUCTION 25
2 OVERVIEW OF THE PAPERS AND OTHER SUBMISSIONS 27
2.1 Panoramas 27
2.2 Reflections on the IS Discipline 28
2.3 Critical Interpretive Studies 30
2.4 Action Research 31
2.5 Theoretical Perspectives in IS Research 32
2.6 Systems Development: Methods, Politics, and Users 34
2.7 Panels and Position Papers 36
3 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS 38
Part 1: Panoramas 43
2 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY‚ HEAL THYSELF 45
1 INTRODUCTION 45
2 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHERS ARE RESEARCH SUBJECTS TOO 47
3 READY‚ WILLING‚ AND ABLE 54
REFERENCES 57
3 INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETY: Speculating on the Next 25 Years of Research 59
1 INTRODUCTION 59
2 THE INTELLECTUAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE IFIP 8.2 COMMUNITY 60
3 SUMMARIZING THE IFIP 8.2 COMMUNITY’S CONTRIBUTIONS 61
4 TWO OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE IFIP 8.2 COMMUNITY 64
5 SUMMARY 72
REFERENCES 73
4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AS DESIGN: Identity, Process, and Narrative 77
1 INTRODUCTION 78
2 INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND IDENTITY 79
3 INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AS LANGUAGE GAMES THAT NARRATE THE WORLD 81
4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AS AN ONGOING PROCESS OF STRUCTURING THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS FIELD 82
5 INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH IDENTITY AS A NARRATIVE 85
6 AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY OF REFLEXIVE MONITORING OF IS RESEARCH AND CONSTRUCTION OF OUR IDENTITIES 87
7 IMPLICATIONS 89
REFERENCES 90
Part 2: Reflections on the IS Discipline 93
5 INFORMATION SYSTEMS— A CYBORG DISCIPLINE? 95
1 INTRODUCTION: ON CYBORGS, CYBORGNESS AND DISCIPLINES 95
2 CYBORG TALE 1: AS A DOCTORAL STUDENT 98
3 CYBORG TALE 2: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROJECT 100
4 TREATING INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS A CYBORG DISCIPLINE 102
REFERENCES 104
6 CORES AND DEFINITIONS: Building the Cognitive Legitimacy of the Information Systems Discipline Across the Atlantic 107
1 INTRODUCTION 108
2 THREE THEMES SUPPORTING THE FIELD’S CLAIMS TO LEGITIMACY 110
3 THE DEFINITION OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM AS AN OBJECT OF STUDY: THE QUESTIONS OF AN ONTOLOGY 113
4 FRENCH SCHOLARS ON THE INFORMATION SYSTEM DEFINITION 114
5 CONCLUSION: THE CONTRIBUTION OF FRENCH SCHOLARS TO THE QUESTION OF THE CORE OF THE IS DISCIPLINE 120
REFERENCES 121
7 TRUTH, JOURNALS, AND POLITICS: The Case of the MIS Quarterly 127
1 INTRODUCTION 127
2 KNOWLEDGE AND POWER: THE CONSTITUTION OF REGIMES OF TRUTH 128
3 REGIMES OF TRUTH AT THE MISQ 132
4 TOWARD A BETTER POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE 140
REFERENCES 142
8 DEBATABLE ADVICE AND INCONSISTENT EVIDENCE: Methodology in Information Systems Research 145
1 INTRODUCTION 145
2 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: IN PRINCIPLE 146
3 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: IN PRACTICE 151
4 DISCUSSION 155
5 CONCLUSIONS 158
REFERENCES 158
9 THE CRISIS OF RELEVANCE AND THE RELEVANCE OF CRISIS: Renegotiating Critique in Information Systems Scholarship 167
1 INTRODUCTION 167
2 THE MEANING OF CRITIQUE IN IS 168
3 CRITIQUING THE MEANING OF CRITIQUE 171
4 THE RELEVANCE OF CRISIS 175
5 CONCLUSIONS 177
REFERENCES 180
10 WHATEVER HAPPENED TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS ETHICS? Caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 183
1 INTRODUCTION 183
2 WHAT PRACTITIONERS DO AND WHAT STUDENTS LEARN 186
3 MORAL BEHAVIOR AS DECISION MAKING OR WHAT? 187
4 CODES OF CONDUCT AND PRACTICE 189
5 TEACHING AND LEARNING COMPUTER ETHICS 190
6 METHODOLOGIES AS NORMATIVE ETHICAL DEVICES 191
7 CONCLUSION 193
REFERENCES 194
11 SUPPORTING ENGINEERING OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN EMERGENT ORGANIZATIONS 199
1 INTRODUCTION 199
2. PRIOR RESEARCH 200
3. SUPPORTING THE ENGINEERING OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN EMERGENT ORGANIZATIONS 204
4. ENGINEERING THE EMERGENCE: AN R-FORMS MANIFESTO 207
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS 210
REFERENCES 211
Part 3: Critical Interpretive Studies 217
12 THE CHOICE OF CRITICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH 219
1 INTRODUCTION 219
2 WHAT IS A CRITICAL EPISTEMOLOGY? 220
3 EMPLOYING A CRITICAL APPROACH IN IS RESEARCH 221
4 IMPLICATIONS FOR IS RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 225
5 CONCLUSION 230
REFERENCES 231
13 THE RESEARCH APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY USED IN AN INTERPRETIVE STUDY OF A WEB INFORMATION SYSTEM: Contextualizing Practice 237
1 INTRODUCTION 237
2 THE CASE METHOD AS A RESEARCH STRATEGY 238
3 CONTEXTUALIZING THE STUDY BY DEFINING INFORMATION SYSTEMS 239
4 CONTEXTUALIZING THE RESEARCH 240
5 CONSTRUCTIVIST RESEARCH 240
6 CONTEXTUALIZING THE RESEARCH PROCESS 241
7 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES 242
8 CHOOSING THICK DESCRIPTION AS A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO DATA COLLECTION 243
9 REFLECTING ON CHOICE OF QUALITATIVE METHOD 244
10 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS IN AN INTERPRETIVE STUDY 250
11 CONCLUSION 253
REFERENCES 253
14 APPLYING HABERMAS’ VALIDITY CLAIMS AS A STANDARD FOR CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 257
1 INTRODUCTION 258
2 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS 258
3 PARADIGMS AND METHODS IN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 259
4 DISCOURSE, DECISION MAKING, AND RATIONALITY 260
5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY 262
6 METHODS IN ACTION: THE ACADIA ADVANTAGE CASE STUDY 266
7 DISCUSSION 274
8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 276
9 CONCLUSION 276
REFERENCES 277
15 CONDUCTING CRITICAL RESEARCH IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Can Actor-Network Theory Help? 283
1 INTRODUCTION 283
2 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES: CRITICAL THEORY AND ANT 285
3 CRITICAL THEORY AND ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY: CAN THEY COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER? 290
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 293
REFERENCES 294
16 CONDUCTING AND EVALUATING CRITICAL INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH: Examining Criteria as a Key Component in Building a Research Tradition 299
1 INTRODUCTION 299
2 WHY CRITICAL INTERPRETIVE? 301
3 DO RESEARCH METHODS IN INTERPRETIVE AND CRITICAL RESEARCH DIFFER? 303
4 CRITERIA FOR CRITICAL INTERPRETIVE IS RESEARCH 304
5 CONCLUDING REMARKS 312
REFERENCES 314
17 MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM INTERPRETIVE CASE STUDIES: Examining Processes of Construction and Use 317
1 INTRODUCTION 318
2 CONSTRUCTING AND USING CONTRIBUTIONS: A THEORETICAL APPROACH 319
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 324
4 THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF CONTRIBUTIONS IN STAR AND RUHLEDER 326
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 332
REFERENCES 334
Part 4: Action Research 337
18 ACTION RESEARCH: Time to Take a Turn? 339
1 INTRODUCTION 339
2 THE NEW ACTION RESEARCH 341
3 EXAMPLE: A COOPERATIVE INQUIRY INTO METAPHORS 348
4 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS 353
REFERENCES 354
19 THE ROLE OF CONVENTIONAL RESEARCH METHODS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS ACTION RESEARCH 359
1 INTRODUCTION 359
2 ACTION RESEARCH 361
3 MIXING METHODS 362
4 ACTION RESEARCH CASES 363
5 DISCUSSION 367
REFERENCES 370
20 THEMES, ITERATION, AND RECOVERABILITY IN ACTION RESEARCH 377
1 ACTION RESEARCH IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS 377
2 RECOVERABILITY, THEMES, AND ITERATION 378
3 CONCEPTS IN USE 380
4 CONCLUSION 384
REFERENCES 384
Part 5: Theoretical Perspectives in IS Research 387
21 THE USE OF SOCIAL THEORIES IN 20 YEARS OF WG 8.2 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH 389
1 INTRODUCTION 389
2 METHOD 390
3 RESULTS 394
4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 406
REFERENCES 408
22 STRUCTURANTION IN RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: Representing Actor Networks, Their Structurated Orders and Translations 413
1 INTRODUCTION 413
2 STRUCTURATION AND ACTOR NETWORK THEORY 414
3 CONSTRUCTING THE STRUCTURANTION HYBRID 415
4 THE STRUCTURANTION THEORY HYBRID 417
5 TRANSLATING STRUCTURATED ORDERS 420
6 BREAST CANCER TREATMENT DECISION MAKING ILLUSTRATION 423
7 CONCLUSION 431
REFERENCES 432
23 SOCIO-TECHNICAL STRUCTURE: An Experiment in Integrative Theory Building 435
1 INTRODUCTION 436
2 STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY 437
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 444
4 INTEGRATIVE THEORY MODEL: DEEP, SURFACE, MATERIAL STRUCTURES 446
5 COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AT VOLVO IT 448
6 CONCLUSION 452
REFERENCES 453
24 EXPOSING BEST PRACTICES THROUGH NARRATIVE: The ERP Example 457
1 INTRODUCTION 458
2 METHODOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL SCHEME 458
3 ANALYZING THE NEGOTIATION OF BEST PRACTICE AT IVY 461
4 DISCUSSION 467
REFERENCES 472
25 INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BY ACTIVITY ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT: Dead Horse or the Next Wave? 477
1 INTRODUCTION: WORK IS THE KEY 478
2 ACTIVITY THEORY IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS 479
3 ACTIVITY ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT 481
4 APPLICATION EXPERIENCES 485
5 DISCUSSION: CHALLENGES AHEAD 489
6 CONCLUSION 492
REFERENCES 493
26 MAKING SENSE OF TECHNOLOGICAL FRAMES: Promise, Progress, and Potential 497
1 INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION 497
2 CHARACTERIZING TECHNOLOGICAL FRAMES 498
3 DEVELOPMENTS IN TFR RESEARCH 501
4 REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF TECHNOLOGICAL FRAMES 508
5 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS 512
REFERENCES 513
27 REFLECTION ON DEVELOPMENT TECHNIQUES USING THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE: Over Two Decades of Bias and Conceptual Blocks 517
1 INTRODUCTION 518
2 CONCEPTUAL BLOCKS 520
3 CHARACTERISTICS OF TECHNIQUES 521
4 REPRESENTING PROBLEM AND SOLUTION SPACES ADDRESSED BY TECHNIQUES 522
5 VISUAL REPRESENTATIONAL ATTRIBUTES 525
6 LANGUAGE AND DISCOURSE ATTRIBUTES 526
7 INDIVIDUAL ORIENTATION ATTRIBUTES 528
8 APPLICATION 529
9 CONCLUSION 529
REFERENCES 531
Part 6: Systems Development: Methods, Politics, and Users 537
28 ENTERPRISE SYSTEM AS AN ORCHESTRATOR OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT: A Case Study of the IRAS and TechCo 539
1 INTRODUCTION 540
2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 541
3 METHODOLOGY 544
4 CASE DESCRIPTION 544
5 CASE ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 546
6 CONCLUSION 553
REFERENCES 555
29 ON TRANSFERRING A METHOD INTO A USAGE SITUATION 559
1 INTRODUCTION 559
2 ON METHODS 560
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 562
4 METHOD TRANSFER: AN INFOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 563
5 THE FRAMEWORK FOR METHOD TRANSFER 564
6 OBSERVATIONS FROM CASE STUDIES WITH THE 2G METHOD 569
7 CONCLUSIONS 572
REFERENCES 573
30 FROM CRITICAL THEORY INTO INFORMATION SYSTEMS PRACTICE: A Case Study of a Payroll-Personnel System 579
1 INTRODUCTION 579
2 CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY AND ITS RELATION TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH 580
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 587
4 DISCUSSION 593
5 CONCLUSION 596
REFERENCES 597
31 RESISTANCE OR DEVIANCE? A High-Tech Workplace During the Bursting of the Dot-Com Bubble 601
1 INTRODUCTION 601
2 WORKPLACE CHANGE 603
3 SOCIAL DEVAINCE AND THE WORKPLACE 604
4 THE ICT-ENABLED WORKPLACE 604
5 CRITICAL THEORY‚ DEVIANCE AND RESISTANCE 605
6 A CASE STUDY 607
7 CONCLUSIONS 614
REFERENCES 617
32 THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE IN USING GIS FOR LAND MANAGEMENT IN INDIA 621
1 INTRODUCTION 621
2 THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE IN GIS APPLICATIONS FOR LAND MANAGEMENT 623
3 RESEARCH APPROACH 626
4 THE CASE STUDY 627
5 CASE ANALYSIS 630
6 CONCLUSION 635
REFERENCES 636
33 SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT IN THE WILD: User-Led Exploration and Transformation of Organizing Visions 639
1 A DIFFERENT REALITY? 640
2 THREE CASES OF REALIZATION 641
3 ALLOWING FOR THE USER-LED TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANIZING VISIONS 648
4 IMPLICATIONS FOR IS PROFESSIONALS 650
REFERENCES 651
34 IMPROVISATION IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT 655
1 INTRODUCTION 655
2 IMPROVISATION IN ORGANIZATIONS 657
3 RESEARCH SETTING AND METHOD 658
4 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 658
5 CASE STUDY 660
6 DISCUSSION 665
7 CONCLUSION 667
REFERENCES 668
Part 7: Panels and Position Papers 671
35 TWENTY YEARS OF APPLYING GROUNDED THEORY IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS: A Coding Method, Useful Theory Generation Method, or an Orthodox Positivist Method of Data Analysis? 673
36 BUILDING CAPACITY FOR E-GOVERNMENT: Contradictions and Synergies in the Dialectics of Action Research 675
37 NEW INSIGHTS INTO STUDYING AGENCY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 677
38 RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING WORK ACTIVITIES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Experiences and the Way Forward 679
39 CROSSING DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES: Reflections on Information Systems Research in Health Care and the State of Information Systems 681
40 THE GREAT QUANTITATIVE/ QUALITATIVE DEBATE: The Past, Present, and Future of Positivism and Post-Positivism in Information Systems 683
41 CHALLENGES FOR PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY-FUNDED INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROJECTS 685
1 INTRODUCTION 685
2 PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH 686
3 CASE STUDY: IMPLEMENTING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE 686
4 REFLECTIONS ON THE ROLE OF POWER IN THE PAR TEAM 687
5 CONCLUSION 689
REFERENCES 690
42 THEORY AND ACTION FOR EMANCIPATION: Elements of a Critical Realist Approach 691
1 INTRODUCTION 691
2 CRITICAL REALISM, POSITIVISM, AND INTERPRETIVISM 692
3 WHAT CONSTITUTES A REALIST APPROACH? 693
4 WHAT IS CRITICAL? 694
5 CONCLUSION 695
REFERENCES 696
43 NON-DUALISM AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH 699
1 INTRODUCTION 699
2 GROUNDING NON-POSITIVIST IS RESEARCH IN NON-DUALISM 700
3 GROUNDING IS RESEARCH IN NON-DUALISM IN CERTAIN CULTURAL CONTEXTS 703
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 703
REFERENCES 703
44 CONTEXTUAL DEPENDENCIES AND GENDER STRATEGY 705
1. INTRODUCTION 705
2 DECENTRALIZED POWER 706
3 CONTEXTUAL DEPENDENCY 706
4 GENDER STRATEGY 707
5 CONCLUSION 709
REFERENCES 709
45 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE GOOD LIFE 711
1 IN SERVICE OF THE GOOD LIFE 711
2 ESTABLISHING A RESEARCH POSITION 712
3 THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND ITS CRITICAL BASE 713
4 TOWARD A RESEARCH POSITION 715
REFERENCES 715
46 EMBRACING INFORMATION AS CONCEPT AND PRACTICE 717
47 TRUTH TO TELL? Some Observations on the Application of Truth Tests in Published Information Systems Research 723
1 INTRODUCTION 723
2 BACKGROUND 724
3 OBSERVATIONS 725
4 CONCLUSIONS 727
REFERENCES 728
48 HOW STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS CAN BE MOBILIZED WITH ACTORNETWORK THEORY TO IDENTIFY ACTORS 729
1 ACTORS AND STAKEHOLDERS 729
2 STAKEHOLDER IDENTIFICATION IN ANT 730
3 CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH 732
REFERENCES 733
49 SYMBOLIC PROCESSES IN ERP VERSUS LEGACY SYSTEM USAGE 737
1 INTRODUCTION 738
2 ERP VERSUS LEGACY SYSTEMS REVISITED 738
4 RESEARCH METHODS 739
5 RESEARCH FINDINGS 740
6 DISCUSSION 744
7 CONCLUSION 745
REFERENCES 745
50 DYNAMICS OF USE AND SUPPLY: An Analytic Lens for Information Systems Research 747
1 INTRODUCTION 747
2 BRINGING THE EVOLVING IT ARTIFACT INTO FOCUS 749
3 VIRTUAL REALITY IN CONSTRUCTION 751
4 CONCLUSIONS 756
REFERENCES 756
51 APPLYING ADAPTIVE STRUCTURATION THEORY TO THE STUDY OF CONTEXT-AWARE APPLICATIONS 759
1 INTRODUCTION 759
2 CABdriver 760
3 RESEARCH APPROACH 761
4 THE CABdriver SETTING 762
5 CONCLUSION 764
REFERENCES 764
Index of Contributors 767
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2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION (p. 517-518)

The strategization of information technology (IT) to attain a competitive edge is ritualistic among private institutions (Ives and Learmonth 1984; McFarlan 1984) and contributes to an extensive list of classical business applications (Clemons 1991). Notwithstanding these testimonial cases of successful MIS, the feasibility of IT-based competitive sustainability remains debatable within academia (see Mata et al. 1995; Mykytyn et al. 2002). Citing reasons such as the prevailing adoption of IT as a strategic necessity (Clemons 1986) and the possibility of generating even deadlier reactions from rivals through creative duplication (Kettinger et al. 1994; Vitale 1986), many have contested the viability of IT-derived competitiveness and emphasized that research in this domain should focus on "describing how, rather than systematically why" IT can deliver strategic benefits (Reich and Benbasat 1990, p. 326).

Unsurprisingly, in light of their copious organizational influence and the substantial implementation investments they require, ES are readily conceived by scholars as the next logical candidate for the reimbursement of competitive value (Ross and Vitale 2000). As IT-based business solutions, ES are touted as configurable software packages that purportedly enable the collation of transaction-oriented data and functional processes into a singular infrastructure (Lee and Lee 2000; Markus et al. 2000a; Markus and Tanis 2000). Nevertheless, despite the projected benefits of prepackaged ES (Markus et al. 2000b), there remain unresolved adoption hurdles. Implicit within ES packages are business principles that emulate industry best practices (Everdingen et al. 2000).

These posited business paradigms, as predefined by the vendor, serve as convenient templates for corporations to mirror competitive praxis, although in many instances the projected benefits of the implemented ES do not materialize (Markus and Tanis 2000). The failures have been attributed to a blend of socio-technical constraints surrounding ES, such as their complexities, their customization difficulties, and the presence of cultural misfits underlying their inherent business process assumptions and those of the adopting organization (Howcroft and Light 2002; Lee and Lee 2000; Soh et al. 2000).

While we do not underestimate the aforementioned technological and organizational challenges of ES implementation, the purpose of this paper is to shed light on how competitive benefits can be manifested through ES adoption, rather than the reason why they can or cannot be realized. As conceived by Rosemann (1999), the fundamental notion of ES is analogous to the developmental objective in mapping the entire array of enterprise business processes into an integrated infostructure.

From this perspective, ES are predominantly operational commodities that double up as "the key element of an infrastructure" which conveys a holistic business solution to adopters (Rosemann and Watson 2002, p. 201). Yet, despite the consensus among researchers of the strategic significance of ES, their exact business potential has not been exploited beyond the extrapolative predictions of existing MIS trends (Davenport 2000a; Hayman 2000; Markus et al. 2000b). Consequently, the question of how ES can deliver competitive qualities continues to evade answering in strategic MIS research and, specifically, ES literature.