Jan Damsgaard

What's Wrong with the Diffusion of Innovation Theory

This paper examines the usefulness of the diffusion of innovation research in developing theoretical accounts of the adoption of complex and networked IT solutions. We contrast six conjectures underlying DOI research with field data obtained from the study of the diffusion of EDI. Our analysis shows that DOI based analyses miss some important facets in the diffusion of complex technologies. We suggest that complex IT solutions should be understood as socially constructed and learning intensive artifacts, which can be adopted for varying reasons within volatile diffusion arenas. Therefore DOI researchers should carefully recognize the complex, networked, and learning intensive features of technology; understand the role of institutional regimes, focus on process features (including histories) and key players in the diffusion arena, develop multi-layered theories that factor out mappings between different layers and locales, use multiple perspectives including political models, institutional models and theories of team behavior, and apply varying time scales while crafting accounts of what happened and why. In general the paper calls for a need to develop DOI theories at the site by using multiple levels of analysis.

Managing the crises in intranet implementation: a stage model

In the seventies, Nolan was the first to address the need for a descriptive stage theory concerning the planning, organizing and controlling activities associated with managing the organizational computer resource. The arrival of newer technologies, such as those based on the Internet, calls for fresh approaches in terms of their implementation and management. Intranet technology, which is based on Internet technology, differs from other types of IT in terms of its characteristics, use and implementation. We propose a four‐stage model for intranet implementation and management. Each stage is portrayed by seven general characteristics. We propose that, in order to ensure intranet institutionalization, three existential crises must be overcome. First, if a sponsor does not nurture the intranet, it cannot evolve beyond its experimental beginnings. Second, if a critical mass of both users and content cannot be reached simultaneously, the intranet will not progress. Finally, if the intranet remains uncontrolled, it will be perceived to be useless, and therefore users will abandon it.

Contours of diffusion of electronic data interchange in Finland: Overcoming technological barriers and collaborating to make it happen

Abstract Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)—despite its basic simplicity—forms a complex and inter-organizational innovation. This necessitates multiple points of observation and the use of multiple theoretical frames in accounting EDI diffusion processes. Based on field study data we deliver a multi-level account of EDI diffusion in Finland. The study clarifies how factors located on three levels of analysis can be applied to understand the unfolding of EDI adoption in different organizational constellations, here called diffusion patterns. We examine three families of diffusion patterns: local dyadic patterns; industry-wide networks; and national initiatives. Overall we discern five distinct diffusion patterns. The analysis of the five patterns demonstrates that EDI diffusion is a complex interplay of organizational, industry and institutional factors. On the theory plane our study calls for the need to orchestrate multi-level approaches to study the diffusion of complex, and networked technologies.

Binary trading relations and the limits of EDI standards: the Procrustean bed of standards

This paper provides a critical examination of electronic data interchange (EDI) standards and their application in different types of trading relationships. It argues that EDI standards are not directly comparable to more stable sets of technical standards in that they are dynamically tested and negotiated in use with each trading exchange. It takes the position that EDI standards are an emergent language form and must mean different things at the institutional and local levels. Using the lens of emergent linguistic analysis it shows how the institutional and local levels must always be distinct and yet can coexist. EDI standards can never represent the creation of an ‘Esperanto of institutional communication’. Instead we believe that standards must be developed such that they support and accommodate general basic grammatical forms that can be customised to individual needs. The analysis is supported by a set of exemplary cases.

The four incremental steps toward advanced mobile service adoption

Exploring mobile device user adoption patterns and market segmentation.

Power, influence and intranet implementation: A safari of South African organizations

Intranets hold great promise as “organizational Internets” to allow information sharing and collaboration across departments, functions and different information systems within an organization. Yet not much is known about how to implement intranets. We adapt a taxonomy based on institutional theory and distinguish six broad diffusion drivers that might be considered to sustain the implementation process. An exploratory field study of four intranet implementations was conducted to analyze which drivers were used and the results that were yielded. We draw several conclusions. First, all six drivers were deployed in the analyzed cases. Second, the choice of drivers varied with the level of the intranet (corporate or unit), the implementation stage, and existing organizational practices and contingencies. Third, it seems that the critical drivers are knowledge building, subsidy and mobilization in the early stages of implementation. In the later stages knowledge deployment, subsidy and innovation directives were most commonly used.

Inter-organizational information systems adoption – a configuration analysis approach

In this article we propose a new complementary approach to investigate Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS) adoption called configuration analysis. We motivate the need for a new approach by the common observation that the structure and the strategy of an IOIS are interdependent and that the IOIS adoptions consequently cluster orderly. For example, an IOIS setup with a powerful customer as a hub and many suppliers as spokes frequently surfaces across diffusion studies. Yet, this fact has not been integrated into existing analyses, and its implications have not been fully developed. We propose that IOIS scholars need to look beyond the single adopting organization in IOIS adoption studies and in contrast consider adoption units what we call an adoption configuration. Each such configuration can be further characterized along the following dimensions: (1) vision, (2) key functionality, (3) mode of interaction, (4) structure and (5) mode of appropriation. In addition, these dimensions do not co-vary independently. For example, a particular organizing vision assumes a specific inter-organizational structure. A typology of IOIS configurations for adoption analysis is laid out consisting of dyadic, hub and spoke, industry and community configurations. Specific forms or adoption analysis are suggested for each type of configuration. Overall, configuration analysis redirects IOIS adoption studies both at the theoretical and the methodological level, and a corresponding research agenda is sketched.

Proprietary versus internet technologies and the adoption and impact of electronic marketplaces

Abstract In this paper we provide a trans-disciplinary view on electronic markets and their impact beyond the dyadic use of EDI. Electronic marketplaces and business-to-business (B2B) exchanges are proliferating now that the Internet has made cooperation and collaboration easier and cheaper. The key question addressed is: will these newer forms of electronic markets lead to other mechanisms of integration and governance than the old EDI-based e-markets and Inter-organisational systems? We argue that the characteristics of pre-internet electronic marketplaces structurally differ from those of internet-based electronic marketplaces, and that this results in different adoption and integration patterns. We provide a model and a set of integrative propositions.

Using Internet technology within the organization: a structurational analysis of intranets

Many organizations are implementing Internet technology, specifically Word Wide Web technology, inside the organization in the form of an “organizational Internet” or irttrunet. Intranet technology can unify dispersed computer based information systems in the organization into one rich “system”. Thus, intranets can have a major impact on organizational processes, for example cross-functional information sharing and collaboration. We focus on the social aspects surrounding intranet implementation. We seek to answer how intranet implementations shape and how they are shaped by ‘social structures employed by organizational agents. We adapt structuration theory into an explanatory device to analyze inhanet implementation and we apply it to four cases. We conclude that, intranets are initially more shaped by, rather than shaping social structures, but that this may change over time. The following learning points are condensed: Firstly, intranets are socially constructed and implementers need to be cautious when seeking to transplanting Web technology into an organizational context. Secondly, intranets typically evolve in sophistication over time. Finally, institutionalization is isolated as the key challenge in intranet implementation.

Managing an Internet Portal

This article presents a model for Internet portal management. The model allows portal implementers to monitor and reflect on their portal implementation process and to identify appropriate strategies to improve their community building efforts. The portal management model (PMM) is a lifecycle model that contains four stages. Each stage is identified and described by a number of characteristics and an associated existential crisis. Each crisis must be addressed for the portal to remain in business but it must be overcome to move on to the next – more advanced – stage. Four competitive strategies are presented as effective for steering the portal through each of the stages. At the initial stage, the new portal should seek to be the unavoidable pesky little brother and seek to imitate the older established portals. At the second stage the appropriate strategy is for the portal to gain strength through marriage rather than staying single – called the battle of the sexes strategy. At the third stage it is time to take firm control over the portal community. Here open confrontation is unavoidable as in the fairytale of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. At the fourth and final stage, the established portal must ceaselessly monitor the market for new contestants and counter them.