Michael I. Barrett

Service innovation in the digital age: key contributions and future directions

Over the last decade, there has been an increasing focus on service across socioeconomic sectors coupled with transformational developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs). Together these developments are engendering dramatic new opportunities for service innovation, the study of which is both timely and important. Fully understanding these opportunities challenges us to question conventional approaches that construe service as a distinctive form of socioeconomic exchange (i.e., as services) and to reconsider what service means and thus how service innovation may develop. The aim of this special issue, therefore, is to bring together some of the latest scholarship from the Marketing and Information Systems disciplines to advance theoretical developments on service innovation in a digital age.

Boundary object use in cross-cultural software development teams

This article examines the evolving use of boundary objects in cross-cultural software teams. Our field study of a Jamaican-Indian team examines the use of software specifications and project management tools as boundary objects in facilitating sharing across knowledge boundaries. We examine how and why the role and use of boundary objects may facilitate collaboration across knowledge boundaries at one time and contribute to conflict at other times. We unpack the interacting elements that both facilitate and constrain knowledge sharing, and trigger conflicts at different stages of the software team development. Specifically, we found that the use of boundary objects at transitions involving definitional control and the subsequent redistribution of power/authority may inhibit knowledge sharing. The subsequent reifying of cultural boundaries along with negative stereotyping led to relational conflict, through a process we call culturizing , as cross-cultural differences emerged as problematic for team dynamics.

Methodological implications of critical realism for mixed-methods research

Building on recent developments in mixed methods, we discuss the methodological implications of critical realism and explore how these can guide dynamic mixed-methods research design in information systems. Specifically, we examine the core ontological assumptions of CR in order to gain some perspective on key epistemological issues such as causation and validity, and illustrate how these shape our logic of inference in the research process through what is known as retroduction. We demonstrate the value of a CR-led mixed-methods research approach by drawing on a study that examines the impact of ICT adoption in the financial services sector. In doing so, we provide insight into the interplay between qualitative and quantitative methods and the particular value of applying mixed methods guided by CR methodological principles. Our positioning of demi-regularities within the process of retroduction contributes a distinctive development in this regard. We argue that such a research design enables us to better address issues of validity and the development of more robust meta-inferences.

ICT and Organizational Change Introduction to the Special Issue

In this introduction to the special issue, the authors explore a number of connections between recent thinking about change in the organization studies (OS) literature and debates about information and communication technology (ICT) and change in the information systems (IS) literature. The authors examine these debates and highlight their potential significance for understanding ICT and organizational change. They argue that what is needed are studies such as those in this special issue that draw on and combine the insights provided by both the OS and the IS literatures to advance the study and practice of ICT-related change.

Negotiating ICT development and use: The case of a telemedicine system in the healthcare region of Crete

Recent research on the development and use of information and communication technology (ICT) has focused on the emergent use of technology in practice and the multiplicity of outcomes being simultaneously negotiated by different groups and individuals. In this paper, we seek to understand this emergent process by examining the interrelationship between the context(s) in which ICTs are introduced, the ways in which ICTs are enacted in practice, and the role of different technological artifacts. We pursue the value of these conceptual developments in an interpretive case study on the introduction of a telemedicine system in the healthcare region of Crete, Greece. Some key implications arising from the case study refer to the relationship between power relationships and organizational change; the relationship between existing work practices and resistance to ICT-mediated change; and the role of different artifacts in negotiations of power, as well as in processes of community formation.

Information Technology and Social Transformation: GIS for Forestry Management in India

Inthisarticle,weexamineanin-depthcaseoftheintroductionof geographical information systems (GIS) in the Indian forestry sector and associated social transformations. Our study is informed by Giddens’s recent theoretical developments on globalizing ine uences at the institutional level and their interconnectedness to new trust systems and self-identity at the individual level. We examine how some elements of our case analysis are illuminated by Giddens’s theoretical concepts, and also highlight some potential areas for further theoretical development. In particular, our case suggests that there are ongoing processes of stability as well as ree exivity,andwealsodeveloptheconceptoftrustsystemstosupport interactions with new groups of people. Finally, our analysis notes some limitations of Giddens’s ideas, especially the somewhat homogeneous form of his theory in suggesting the nature of social transformations in current times. Instead, the case emphasizes the need toexaminemoreclosely culturalandothersocioculturalcharacteristicsinparticularcontexts,andhowthey playoutwith global ineuences.

WebTrust and the “commercialistic auditor”: The unrealized vision of developing auditor trustworthiness in cyberspace

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine how auditors sought to establish their trustworthiness as trust providers on the internet; a vision which has remained largely unrealized. The investigation focuses on the WebTrust assurance project, launched by the North American accounting institutes to reinvigorate the alleged declining market for the expertise of external auditors. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth longitudinal case study drew on a social theory of trust to examine the complexity of relations upon which trustworthiness of professional claims is predicated and investigate how commercialism has influenced the development of WebTrust. Findings – Analysis illustrates the critical role that experts have in professionalization processes in trusting (or not) their own systems of expertise. Also, face-to-face relationships continue to play a key role in establishing the trustworthiness of professionals and their systems of expertise – even in the cyberspace domain. Practical implications – It is argued that the WebTrust case and other commercialistic ventures sustained in accountancy provide a persuasive argument against the benefits of the free-market logic in professional domains. Professional associations should be more vigorous in defending professionalism. Originality/value – The research indicates that elite bodies of the profession, including professional associations, conceived of WebTrust mainly through a commercialistic lens – which is particularly revealing of the mindset that seemed to characterize a number of experienced professional accountants across North America shortly before the collapse of Andersen. The WebTrust saga illustrates how the profession has strayed from its ideals, or myths, of service ethic towards more focused efforts in developing “innovative” services based on a commercialistic logic.

Exploring the Diversity of Service Worlds in the Service Economy

The transformation of modern economies into predominantly service-based economies is happening on a global scale. While services are not new, the scale and complexity of globally dispersed services are growing rapidly. These transformations are enabled by—and often dependent on—information technologies and are fueled by processes of globalization. Transformational change provides opportunities for innovation in business models, collaborations, and work practices but also presents challenges to established practices within industries and organizations. The aims of the IFIP Working Group 8.2 Conference on IT in the Service Economy were to better understand the possibilities and challenges of these transformations and to examine key implications for organizations, their employees, and IT professionals in the 21 century service economy.

Knowledge translation in healthcare: Incorporating theories of learning and knowledge from the management literature

PURPOSE The authors draw selectively on theories of learning and knowledge, which currently have received little attention from knowledge translation (KT) researchers, and suggest how they might usefully inform future development of the KT literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual tools and strategies for the growing number of managers, clinicians and decision makers navigating this arena DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The authors conducted a narrative review to synthesise two streams of literature and examine evolving conceptual landscape concerning knowledge translation over the previous three decades. Conceptual mapping was used iteratively to develop and synthesise the literature. Iterative feedback from relevant research and practice stakeholder groups was used to focus and strengthen the review. FINDINGS KT has been conceptualised along three competing frames; one focusing on linear (largely unidirectional) transfer of knowledge; one focusing on KT as a social process; and another that seeks to more fully incorporate contextual issues in understanding research implementation. Three overlapping themes are found in the management literature that inform these debates in the health literature, namely knowledge boundaries, organisational learning and absorptive capacity. Literature on knowledge boundaries problematizes the nature of boundaries and the stickiness of knowledge. Organisational learning conceptualises the need for organisational wide systems to facilitate learning processes; it also draws on a more expansive view of knowledge. Absorptive capacity focuses at the firm level on the role of developing organisational capabilities that enable the identification, assimilation and use of new knowledge to enable innovation. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS The paper highlights the need to consider KT processes at multiple levels, including individual, organisational and strategic levels. These are important not only for research but also have practical implications for individuals and organisations involved in KT processes. ORIGINALITY/VALUE This review summarises and integrates two largely separate literature streams on knowledge translation - namely health services research and management scholarship. In addition to outlining and organising the conceptual landscape around knowledge transfer, the paper contributes by highlighting how management literature on knowledge and learning theories might inform health services research on knowledge translation.

Electronic trading and the process of globalization in traditional futures exchanges: a temporal perspective

This paper develops a temporal perspective to examine information and communication technologies (ICT) adoption and processes of globalization. The foundations of our theoretical approach explicitly draw upon three intersecting planes of temporality implicit in structuration; namely reversibility, irreversibility and institutionalization. We further develop our theoretical perspective by extending the scope of structuration to incorporate temporal features of Adams social theory on ‘global time’. We then use this temporal perspective to examine the emergence of electronic trading and the process of globalization across London and Chicago futures exchanges. Our analysis provides insights into the IT-enabled reconfiguration of these exchanges during processes of reproduction and change associated with globalization. We conclude with some key implications for e-trading strategy and consider changes in trader work life associated with the adoption of e-trading.