Jane Fedorowicz

THE ROLE OF TRUST IN SUPPLY CHAIN GOVERNANCE

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide and illustrate a framework for the role of governance mechanisms in information sharing among supply chain members. The importance of trust in governing interorganizational relationships is emphasized.Design/methodology/approach – Trust, bargaining power, and contract are three key constructs supporting the governance of information sharing and material flow coordination in supply chains. A conceptual framework showing how these governance mechanisms affect coordination and ultimately, supply chain performance is presented. Four types of trust – calculative, competence, integrity, and predictability – are thought to play an important role in determining the efficacy of information sharing. Three research questions are posed on the relationships among trust, bargaining power, contracts, and information sharing in supply chain coordination. These governance issues are shown to be key factors in the supply chain business model, as illustrated in a case study ...

A collaborative network for first responders: Lessons from the CapWIN case

Abstract It is increasingly important for government agencies to collaborate across jurisdictional and functional boundaries. Interorganizational systems supporting interagency collaboration must accommodate a wide range of factors from the external environment and participating organizations as part of their design and operation. This paper presents the findings from a case study of CapWIN, a collaborative network created to enable first responders to share information across jurisdictional and functional boundaries as they work together during emergencies and other critical events. The study examines how aspects of the external environment and the agency context impeded or facilitated the CapWIN collaborative network and the interorganizational system (IOS) that supports it. We identify factors affecting information sharing and collaborative processes, and describe how these factors interact to enable and constrain an IOS. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on the interplay of environmental, organizational, and technical aspects of interagency collaboration networks as they evolve over time.

Barriers to Interorganizational Information Sharing in e-Government: A Stakeholder Analysis

Government agencies often face trade-offs in developing initiatives that address a public good given competing concerns of various constituent groups. Efforts to construct data warehouses that enable data mining of citizens’ personal information obtained from other organizations (including sister agencies) create a complex challenge, since privacy concerns may vary across constituent groups whose priorities diverge from agencies’ e-government goals. In addition to privacy concerns, participating government agencies’ priorities related to the use of the information may also be in conflict. This article reports on a case study of the Integrated Non-Filer Compliance System used by the California Franchise Tax Board for which data are collected from federal, state, and municipal agencies and other organizations in a data mining application that aims to identify residents who under-report income or fail to file tax returns. This system pitted the public good (ensuring owed taxes are paid) against citizen concerns about privacy. Drawing on stakeholder theory, the authors propose a typology of four stakeholder groups (data controllers, data subjects, data providers, and secondary stakeholders) to address privacy concerns and argue that by ensuring procedural fairness for the data subjects, agencies can reduce some barriers that impede the successful adoption of e-government applications and policies. The article concludes that data controllers can reduce adoption and implementation barriers when e-government data mining applications rely on data shared across organizational boundaries: identify legitimate stakeholders and their concerns prior to implementation; enact procedures to ensure procedural fairness when data are captured, shared, and used; explain to each constituency how the data mining application helps to ensure distributive fairness; and continue to gauge stakeholders’ responses and ongoing concerns as long as the application is in use.

The formation of inter-organizational information sharing networks in public safety: Cartographic insights on rational choice and institutional explanations

In this article we offer visual depictions and analysis of contextual factors relative to the presence of public safety networks (PSNs) in the United States (US). A PSN combines shared technological infrastructures for supporting information sharing, computing interoperability and interagency interactions involving policing, criminal justice, and emergency response. The broad research objective is to explain the formation of PSNs based upon factors derived from rational choice and institutional theories. To do so we develop maps to represent our data analysis. This analysis suggests that our approach is promising for generating insights about PSNs and, by extension, about other types of inter-organizational collaborations focusing on using information and communication technologies to enable information-sharing.

Organization support systems: bridging business and decision processes

Abstract:New organizational information demands and emerging information technologies combine to make companywide, or organization support systems (OSS) an organizational imperative. The term OSS refers to the information technology infrastructure that establishes an environment for organizational and individual decision making. Issues that relate attributes of organizational decision and business processes to associated characteristics of platform information technologies are discussed. Some of these linkages may result in new emerging organizational forms. A proposed taxonomy of OSS demonstrates changes in the levels of embedded policy relative to facilitation of flexible organizational structures. This framework suggests research opportunities in areas of design of organizational structures, development of an organizational support systems architecture, and technical and organizational issues in decisions on strategy, structure, and systems. The paper highlights several key challenges in research and m...

creativity, Innovation, and E-collaboration

IT–endowed collaboration within and between groups will catalyze creativity, which in turn will facilitate multidisciplinary innovation and reduce barriers and inefficiencies among people working together. This article describes the challenges of supporting creativity and innovation through e-collaboration, and summarizes the papers that were accepted for a special issue of the International Journal of e-Collaboration. Three papers were selected from among 31 manuscripts that had been received; these manuscripts were reviewed with the assistance of 46 independent reviewers. The authors of the selected papers cover three important aspects of IT-endowed collaboration: the impact of collaboration tools on process, product, and relational innovation; the impact of e-information, e-communication, and e-workflow on innovation; and design requirements for collaboration tools aimed at creativity assistance. The article ends with a call for further research on the design and evaluation of collaboration environments tailored for use by virtual teams.

A decade of design in digital government research

Abstract Digital government research often centers on information technology artifacts designed for the purpose of improving access to or processes within government. Because of the centricity of the technology artifact, much of this research builds upon theories and prescriptions adapted from the information systems discipline. In information systems, the study of artifact design has benefitted from the adoption of the rigor and generalizability enabled by design science research. The purpose of this paper was to provide an overview of design science principles guiding the construction of technological artifacts, which we use to examine a decade of digital government research articles that fall into the design science camp. We assess these articles, using the guidelines of Hevner, March, and Park (2004) for conducting and presenting design science research; we identify common strengths and gaps; we recommend how digital government researchers may benefit from applying a grounded view of design to expand the generalizability of their work; and finally, we conclude the paper with a discussion of ways to open up the narrow focus of design science to a broader understanding of the impact of external factors, such as the environment and organizational milieu, on the complex setting most digital government innovation inhabits.

Reinvention of interorganizational systems: A case analysis of the diffusion of a bio-terror surveillance system

Innovation diffusion theory proposed that adopters—whether individuals or organizations—sometimes reinvent an innovation as they gain experience using it. Reinvention can enhance (or impede) the likelihood of an IS innovation’s acceptance and further diffusion. This paper reports on a case study of BioSense, an interorganizational system that was designed as an early detection tool for bio-terror attacks and subsequently modified to better serve this need as well as to operate as a public health system for pinpointing geographic clusters of dangerous/acute disease outbreaks. By examining the interplay among the political and organizational dynamics and technical properties of the BioSense system, we shed light on processes affecting reinvention in an interorganizational context. We discuss our findings in light of theories of the diffusion and reinvention of innovations. We use Rogers’ (1995) list of factors supporting reinvention to structure the discussion of the fidelity and uniformity of the innovation within the processes it supports in adopting health services organizations.

RFID and interorganisational collaboration: political and administrative challenges

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a powerful new technology which, in combination with other information technologies, offers great potential for supporting interorganisational collaboration. The case study reported herein suggests that organisations adopting RFID will need to change their technical and organisational processes and make accommodations in response to political and environmental constraints. The study focused on an initiative undertaken by the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC). Through it, a large number of disparate organisations are working together to utilise RFID to track livestock movements, thereby helping to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of contagious diseases. This study demonstrates how political and administrative challenges interacted with technical aspects of the interorganisational system design. Suggestions are offered for further research on the assimilation of RFID and other emerging technologies in interorganisational contexts.

Surveying object technology usage and benefits: a test of conventional wisdom

Vendors and developers alike profess a profound shift in the paradigm of systems analysis, design, and programming based on object-oriented techniques. A survey was sent to over 1200 IS professionals with an expressed interest in OO. The results of the questionnaire provided descriptive information on their level of experience with OO in use in the field and also to garnered professional perceptions on the usefulness and benefits of various aspects of OO use. We found that many vendor-touted benefits are upheld by professionals using these tools, yet not always to the extent predicted. In particular, the techniques were harder to learn than expected and do not give a novice an anticipated edge in acquiring professional expertise. Overall, however, respondents preferred to use OO for application development, as well as to support team-based activities such as client communications, project team communications, and new team member familiarization. Professional users expected that OO could require a greater time investment at the beginning of the system development life cycle, with time savings accruing at the latter stages of a projects implementation and use. Expectations concerning the reusability and shareability of objects also appeared to be met. The most favorable preferences and benefits were reported by those respondents who have used OO most.