Karin Väyrynen

Differences between success factors of IS quasi-outsourcing and conventional outsourcing collaboration: a case study of two Finnish companies

Conventional IS outsourcing does not always meet expectations, often because the company lacks control over the outsourced activity. Quasi-outsourcing collaboration, where the company transfers its IS personnel to a subsidiary, allows the company to maintain more control over the relationship than in conventional outsourcing. In this qualitative case study of two Finnish companies, differences between success factors of IS quasi-outsourcing and conventional outsourcing are identified and discussed. The study has practical and theoretical implications. We identified 1) success factors of conventional outsourcing that are already fulfilled (e.g. trust) or less challenging (e.g. physical information technology infrastructure) in quasi-outsourcing, 2) success factors that are more challenging in quasi-outsourcing than in conventional outsourcing (e.g. structured interaction processes), and 3) success factors that proved important in both types of outsourcing but showed qualitative differences (e.g. mutual dependency). Our findings can help companies make a more informed choice between these two types of outsourcing.

Investigating the Differences between Success Factors of Conventional IS Outsourcing and Quasi-Outsourcing

Conventional IS outsourcing does not always meet expectations, sometimes because of a companys lack of control over the outsourced activity. Quasi-outsourcing is a form of collaboration where the company transfers its IS personnel to a subsidiary, allowing the company to keep better control over the relationship than in conventional outsourcing. In this paper, the factors affecting the success of a quasi-outsourcing relationship are examined in an empirical case study where a Finnish corporate group quasi-outsourced its IS services, and are compared to success factors of conventional outsourcing. First, we found that certain factors identified to be critical for success in conventional IS outsourcing are already fulfilled in the context of quasi-outsourcing. Second, we identified a number of success factors of quasi-outsourcing not yet identified in conventional outsourcing. Third, we identified three challenges of quasi-outsourcing, and a number of success factors as countermeasures to meet these challenges.

Rationale Behind Socially Influencing Design Choices for Health Behavior Change

Persuasive technologies for health behavior change often include social influence features. Social influence in the design of persuasive technology has been described as a black box. This case study sheds light on design practices by identifying factors that affect the design of social influence features in health behavior change applications and the designers’ understanding of the social influence aspects. Our findings are twofold: First, the two most positively inclined social influence features, namely cooperation and normative influence, were missing from the reviewed applications. Second, the medical condition - the persuasive technology targets - has a major influence on consideration and integration of social influence features in health behavior change applications. Our findings should be taken into account when frameworks and guidelines are created for the design of social influence features in health behavior change applications.

Mobile Applications as Carriers of Institutional Pressures: A Case of the Finnish Taxi Industry

While the worldwide market expansion of Uber has raised controversy, Uber has also received praise for its mobile phone app. Its many features – taxi ordering, pricing, real-time location information, paying, and service evaluation – have provided significant customer value. When Uber entered Finland in November 2014, few other taxi apps were available. Between 2014 and 2018, this shortage of taxi apps turned into an abundance, with many companies introducing their own taxi apps. By leaning on institutional theory, and more specifically by applying coercive, mimetic and normative pressures as a lens, we provide an explanation for why three Finnish taxi apps now resemble Uber in some features, whereas they differ in others. Based on our interviews, we can explain the present-day differences between these apps by coercive and normative pressures in the institutional environment of the Finnish taxi industry. We contribute to the IT and institutionalization research stream by illustrating how mobile applications as IT artefacts can be seen as carriers of institutional pressures materializing in the features they provide.

Designing for Well-being and Healthcare Using Social Comparison

The aim of the workshop is to create a design framework for social comparison (a social influence aspect / psychological theory). The social comparison theory supports that in lack of objective measurements, people compare themselves to others similar to them in order to evaluate their skills, abilities, and in general to understand better themselves. The framework will address a gap in current research focused on the design space of social comparison for health and wellbeing behavior change technologies. The workshop participants are invited to share their experiences and viewpoints on designing behavior change technology using social influence (the influence of others on once behavior). This can include, for example, practical cases or design ideas. These ideas will be consolidated through a framework skeleton pre-constructed by organizers through a literature review and past research.

Six Issues in Which IS and CSCW Research Communities Differ

Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) has become increasingly positioned as a subfield of human-computer interaction (HCI). Earlier, CSCW has had a closer connection to the Information Systems (IS) field, but this relationship has seemed to become more distant. In this paper we reflect on the distinct characteristics of the research communities of CSCW and IS. We identify similarities, but also stark differences between the two. The six identified issues of difference are the roles of theory, context, methodology, organizational layer, socio-technicality, and power-alignment. Our contribution is in making these differences visible. We hope this paper will promote diplomacy and understanding between these research communities, so that scholars may consider cross-disciplinary IS-CSCW publication strategies.