Mike Chiasson

Pushing the contextual envelope: developing and diffusing IS theory for health information systems research

Abstract The healthcare sector is a crucial and socially challenging component of modern economies. Information systems (IS) research could contribute to the effective development, application and use of information technologies to manage and coordinate health services. Healthcare also provides opportunities to develop or refine IS theory because of its unique institutional context. To profile IS research in health-related settings, we examine the publication of health information systems research (HISR) in 17 IS journals since 1985. Our analysis revealed a small but growing body of HISR literature. These publications are concentrated in “HISR-friendly journals” and employ a variety of strategies for balancing general IS theories and knowledge with attention to the institutional characteristics of healthcare. We consider the strengths and limitations of these strategies in advancing HISR within the IS field and for contributing to multidisciplinary HISR knowledge.

Pluralist action research: a review of the information systems literature*

Action research (AR) has for many years been promoted and practised as one way to conduct field studies within the information systems (IS) discipline. Based on a review of articles published in leading journals, we explore how IS researchers practise AR. Our review suggests that AR lends itself strongly towards pluralist approaches which facilitate the production of both theoretical and practical knowledge. First, on the level of each study we analyse how research and problem‐solving activities are mixed, in three ways: the research dominant, the problem‐solving dominant and the interactive approaches. Second, in the context of the wider research programme in which the study is situated, we analyse how AR is mixed with other research methods, in two ways: the dominant and the sequential approaches. We argue that these pluralist practices of mixing types of research activities and types of research methods provide IS action researchers with a rich portfolio of approaches to knowledge production. This portfolio helps them address the risks involved in AR to ensure their efforts contribute to the literature as well as to practical problem‐solving.

A model of design decision making based on empirical results of interviews with software designers

Despite the impact of design decisions on software design, we have little understanding about how design decisions are made. This hinders our ability to provide design metrics, processes and training that support inherent design work. By interviewing 25 software designers and using content analysis and explanation building as our analysis technique, we provide qualitative and quantitative results that highlight aspects of rational and naturalistic decision making in software design. Our qualitative multi-case study results in a model of design decision making to answer the question: how do software designers make design decisions? We find the structure of the design problem determines the aspects of rational and naturalistic decision making used. The more structured the design decision, the less a designer considers options.

The ends of information systems research: a pragmatic framework

In this paper, we argue that any effort to understand the state of the Information Systems field has to view IS research as a series of normative choices and value judgments about the ends of research. To assist a systematic questioning of the various ends of IS research, we propose a pragmatic framework that explores the choices IS researchers make around theories and methodologies, ethical methods of conduct, desirable outcomes, and the long-term impact of the research beyond a single site and topic area. We illustrate our framework by considering and questioning the explicit and implicit choices of topics, design and execution, and the representation of knowledge in experimental research--research often considered to be largely beyond value judgments and power relations. We conclude with the implications of our pragmatic framework by proposing practical questions for all IS researchers to consider in making choices about relevant topics, design and execution, and representation of findings in their research.

Style composition in action research publication

Examining action research publications in leading Information Systems journals as a particular genre of research communication, we develop the notion of style composition to understand how authors structure their arguments for a research contribution. We define style composition as the activity through which authors select, emphasize, and present elements of their research to establish premises, develop inferences, and present contributions in publications. Drawing on this general notion, we identify a set of styles that is characteristic of how IS action researchers compose their argument. Premise styles relate to the dual goals of action research through practical or theoretical positioning of the argument; inference styles combine insights from the problem-solving and the research cycles through inductive or deductive reasoning; and contribution styles focus on different types of contributions--experience report, field study, theoretical development, problemsolving method, and research method. Based on the considered sample, we analyze the styles adopted in selected publications and show that authors have favored certain styles while leaving others underexplored; further, we reveal important strengths and weaknesses in the composition of styles within the IS discipline. Based on these insights, we discuss how action research practices and writing can be improved, as well as how to further develop style compositions to support the publication of engaged scholarship research.

System development conflict during the use of an information systems prototyping method of action research: implications for practice and research

In one particular action research (AR) methodology, information systems prototyping (ISP), the goals are to involve the researcher in a facilitative and collaborative role with stakeholders in the development of an information system that satisfies their collective needs. But what happens when political and structural conflict and coercive action erupts? This article features an AR case, where the development of an electronic patient record in a heart clinic, resulted in a period of intense structural conflict, and the dismissal of an organizational member. Further analysis suggests that four factors can explain these unusual outcomes and their relationship with the use of an ISP method. These include: the specification of measures and perceptions of success within the AR method (goals); general problems with the AR methodology and/or its clear delineation (processes); problems in using a particular AR methodology in a specific time and place (contingency); and problems with the researcher’s implementation of the AR processes (implementation). The study also highlights a number of areas for development of ISP.

Executable acceptance tests for communicating business requirements: customer perspective

Using an experimental method, we found that customers, partnered with an IT professional, are able to use executable acceptance test (storytest)-based specifications to communicate and validate functional business requirements. However, learnability and ease of use analysis indicates that an average customer may experience difficulties learning the technique. Several additional propositions are evaluated and usage observations made

Questioning the IT artefact: user practices that can, could, and cannot be supported in packaged-software designs

The purchase of packaged software has brought new opportunities and challenges to the development of information systems. An important question for packaged software consumers is how a software package will support, change or inhibit practices. To address this question, our paper focuses on the decisions made by a team developing four different software prototypes, with increasingly relaxed constraints on data content and structure. Each prototype significantly enlarged the number of health promotion planners that could be supported by the software. Consistent with the literature, the software designers balanced specificity (constraint) and generality (opening) in the software to incorporate a desire to serve a broad audience, and a need to be relevant to various sub-groups within this audience. Given a detailed knowledge of the software artefact, including the data content and structural choices made by designers, we hope to enable software consumers to question IT artefacts and their spokespeople, so they can make active and informed choices about software generality and specificity. We also suggest that this questioning process is shared across both customised and packaged software, and that the inscription of technology by designers may be either deterministic and detailed, or emergent and general. The implications for packaged software research and practice are considered.

Do the ends justify the means?: A Gramscian critique of the processes of consent during an ERP implementation

Purpose – ERP systems continue to fail. One success factor that has received little attention in the literature is cultural fit – which emphasizes the need for ERP systems to be chosen and adapted to current organizational practices. However, the dynamics behind culture and its fit with ERP require investigation. This paper aims to fills this gap.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon cultural and linguistic concepts from Antonio Gramsci to consider how consent is achieved in ERP implementation projects. These concepts include positive (integral) and negative (decadent and minimal) hegemony, as well as the production and effects of normative and spontaneous grammars. The paper examined the implementation of an ERP in a logistics company, using interview and documentary evidence.Findings – The findings reveal that, while consensus is apparently achieved across disparate groups and interests, it is achieved through the use of phrases which marginalized groups by their abstract and rhetorical nat...

Extending the research agenda on diffusion: the case of public program interventions for the adoption of e-business systems in SMEs

Given the importance of contextual influences on the diffusion of innovations, the theories and methodologies that take context into account are increasingly relevant to research and practice. One such approach, the systems of innovation approach, considers context to be a cascading set of effects arising from various participants and innovations surrounding the production and diffusion of a focal innovation. Based on this approach, we focus on a public program involved in the diffusion of e-business systems to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). E-business systems are complex innovations, and the contextual influences are particularly important here, because SMEs often lack the knowledge and resources to strategically adopt, modify, and use these innovations. Using the systems of innovation approach, we examined the contexts around public program interventions with an SME in order to explain their form and influence on e-business adoption processes. The empirical findings suggest that many public programs fail to effectively deliver interventions because program contexts restrict program personnels ability to completely assess and respond to the range of adopter needs. While some aspects of the program contexts can be altered by the program directors, others are further removed and are currently beyond our collective control at this point-in-time. The implications for diffusion research and practice are discussed.