Rajiv Sabherwal

Alignment Between Business and IS Strategies: A Study of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders

Alignment between business strategy and IS strategy is widely believed to improve business performance. This paper examines the impact of alignment on perceived business performance using Miles and Snows popular classification of Defender, Analyzer, and Prospector business strategies. A priori theoretical profiles for these business strategies are developed using Venkatramans (1989a) measure of business strategy. Theoretical profiles for IS strategies are developed in terms of four types of systems--operational support systems, market information systems, strategic decision-support systems, and interorganizational systems. Empirical data from two multirespondent surveys of 164 and 62 companies, respectively, are analyzed. Results indicate that alignment affects perceived business performance but only insome organizations. Alignment seems to influence overall business success in Prospectors and Analyzers but not in Defenders. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Organizational Knowledge Management: A Contingency Perspective

Prior research examines several knowledge management processes, considering each as universally appropriate. Instead, we propose that the context influences the suitability of a knowledge management process. We develop a contingency framework, including two attributes of the organizational subunits tasks: process or content orientation, and focused or broad domain, and links knowledge management processes to them: internalization for focused, process-oriented tasks; externalization for focused, content-oriented tasks; combination for broad, content-oriented tasks; and socialization for broad, process-oriented tasks. The empirical research was done at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), based on several interviews and survey data from 159 individuals across 8 subunits. The results supported the contingency framework. All the knowledge management processes except externalization had a positive impact in the expected cell. At the overall level, combination and externalization, but not internalization and socialization, affect knowledge satisfaction. Some implications for practice and research are identified.Prior research examines several knowledge management processes, considering each as universally appropriate. Instead, we propose that the context influences the suitability of a knowledge management process. We develop a contingency framework, including two attributes of the organizational subunits tasks: process or content orientation, and focused or broad domain, and links knowledge management processes to them: internalization for focused, process-oriented tasks; externalization for focused, content-oriented tasks; combination for broad, content-oriented tasks; and socialization for broad, process-oriented tasks. The empirical research was done at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), based on several interviews and survey data from 159 individuals across 8 subunits. The results supported the contingency framework. All the knowledge management processes except externalization had a positive impact in the expected cell. At the overall level, combination and externalization, but not internalization and socialization, affect knowledge satisfaction. Some implications for practice and research are identified.

Portfolios of Control in Outsourced Software Development Projects

This paper examines the evolution of portfolio of controls over the duration of outsourced information systems development (ISD) projects. Drawing on five cases, it concludes that many findings from research on control of internal ISD projects apply to the outsourced context as well, but with some interesting differences. The portfolios of control in outsourced projects are dominated by outcome controls, especially at the start of the project; although the precision and frequency of these controls varies across projects. Behavior controls are often added later in the project, as are controls aimed to encourage and enable vendor self-control. Clan controls were used in only two of the cases--when the client and vendor had shared goals, and when frequent interactions led to shared values. In general, the outsourced projects we studied began with relatively simple controls but often required significant additional controls after experiencing performance problems. Factors influencing the choice and evolution of controls are also examined.

Information System Success: Individual and Organizational Determinants

Despite considerable empirical research, results on the relationships among constructs related to information system (IS) success, as well as the determinants of IS success, are often inconsistent. A comprehensive understanding of IS success thus remains elusive. In an attempt to address this situation, which may partly be due to the exclusion of potentially important constructs from prior parsimonious models of IS success, we present and test a comprehensive theoretical model. This model explains interrelationships among four constructs representing the success of a specific IS (user satisfaction, system use, perceived usefulness, and system quality), and the relationships of these IS success constructs with four user-related constructs (user experience with ISs, user training in ISs, user attitude toward ISs, and user participation in the development of the specific IS) and two constructs representing the context (top-management support for ISs and facilitating conditions for ISs). To test the model, we first used meta-analysis to compute a correlation matrix for the constructs in the model based on 612 findings from 121 studies published between 1980 and 2004, and then used this correlation matrix as input for a LISREL analysis of the model. Overall, we found excellent support for the theoretical model. The results underline the importance of user-related and contextual attributes in IS success and raise questions about some commonly believed relationships.

The role of trust in outsourced IS development projects

Here, I focus on the key social factor of trust in OISD projects. Trust is an important aspect of interpersonal [1], as well as interorganizational [4, 11], relationships. One view of trust emphasizes each party’s perception of the motives of the other party. For example, trust can be defined as “a state involving confident positive expectations about another’s motives with respect to oneself in situations entailing risk” [1]. A broader view incorporates motives, along with behavior. For example, trust can be defined as “confidence that the behavior of another will conform to one’s expectations and in the goodwill of another” [4]. Taking this broader view, I examine the role of trust in OISD, the complementary relationship between trust and structure, and the virtuous and vicious cycles involving trust, structure, and performance. My conclusions are based on 18 primary OISD projects (see Table 1 and the sidebar, How the Study Was Conducted). Participants in OISD projects represent at least two different organizations—the client and the vendor. Trust should be viewed differently from its role in internal IS development where participants know each other already and are aware their future personal relationships will reach beyond the current project. But in OISD, participants from both sides often lack prior relationships with one another and may take a Katherine M. Hudson, the former Kodak executive well known for outsourcing

Antecedents and outcomes of strategic IS alignment: an empirical investigation

Prior research argues that alignment between business and information systems (IS) strategies enhances organizational performance. However, factors affecting alignment have received relatively little empirical attention. Moreover, IS strategic alignment is assumed to facilitate the performance of all organizations, regardless of type or business strategy. By using two studies of business firms and academic institutions, this paper: 1) develops and tests a model relating alignment, its antecedents, and its consequences and 2) examines differences in these relationships across organizational types and strategies. Findings indicate that alignment depends on shared domain knowledge and prior IS success, and also support the expected positive impact of alignment on organizational performance. Differences across Prospector, Analyzer, and Defender business strategies are examined. A key research contribution is the empirical demonstration that the importance of alignment, as well as the mechanisms used to attain alignment, vary by business strategy and industry. In past alignment studies, controlling for industry has not been uncommon. The findings suggest that future research studies should also control for business strategy. The article also empirically demonstrates that past implementation success influences alignment. In addition, it highlights the influence of a process variable, strategic planning, on the development of shared knowledge and, consequently, on alignment. This paper examines strategic issues related to the management of technology. Data from multiple surveys are used to test the extent to which strategic planning, shared business-IS knowledge, prior IS success, and other variables consistently enhance IS alignment. The study also provides empirical support for the popular argument that IS alignment improves organizational performance. It extends the current literature by examining the extent to which these findings hold across firm strategies and industries. The authors argue that not all firms are equally well served by allocating scarce resources to improve IS alignment.

An Empirical Study of the Effect of Knowledge Management Processes at Individual, Group, and Organizational Levels*

To enhance our understanding of knowledge management, this paper focuses on a specific question: How do knowledge management processes influence perceived knowledge management effectiveness? Prior literature is used to develop the research model, including hypotheses about the effects of four knowledge management processes (internalization, externalization, socialization, and combination) on perceived individual-level, group-level, and organizational-level knowledge management effectiveness. The study was conducted at the John F. Kennedy Space Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using a survey of 159 individuals and two rounds of personal interviews. Structural equation modeling was performed to test measurement and structural models using the survey data. The emergent model suggests that internalization and externalization impact perceived effectiveness of individual-level knowledge management. Socialization and combination influence perceived effectiveness of knowledge management at group and organizational levels, respectively. The results also support the expected upward impact in perceived effectiveness of knowledge management, from individual to group level, as well as from group level to organizational level. The studys limitations and implications for practice and future research are described.

Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment

In studying strategic information systems (IS) alignment, it is important to examine the associated processes over time rather than viewing alignment as an isolated event. This article focuses on how organizations undergo a series of interdependent changes in business strategy and IS strategy in order to increase the alignment between them. Based primarily on detailed case studies of changes over long time-periods in three organizations, the research suggests that this process of adaptation and change, which allows alignment to occur, is more complex than previously believed. While efforts to achieve alignment between IS and the business do sometimes produce alignment, they often go astray. There are three such potentially problematic trajectories—excessive transformation, paradoxical decisions, and uncertain turnarounds. This article identifies some factors explaining why organizations might pursue these problematic trajectories and offers some suggestions for avoiding them.

Knowledge Management Using Information Technology: Determinants of Short‐Term Impact on Firm Value*

The importance of knowledge management (KM) processes for organizational performance is now well recognized. Seeking to better understand the short-term impact of KM on firm value, this article focuses on public announcements of information technology (IT)-based KM efforts, and uses cumulative abnormal return (CAR) associated with an announcement as the dependent variable. This article employs a contingency approach, arguing that the KM announcement would have a positive short-term impact on firm value in some conditions but not in others. Thus, it pursues the following research question: What are the effects of contextual factors on the CAR associated with the announcement of an IT-based KM effort? Specific hypotheses are proposed based on information-processing theory, organizational learning theory, the knowledge-based theory of the firm, and the theory of knowledge creation. These hypotheses link CARs to alignment between industry innovativeness and the KM process, alignment between firm efficiency and the KM process, firm-specific instability, and firm diversification. The empirical study utilizes secondary data on 89 KM announcements from 1995 to 2002. The results largely support the hypotheses. Overall, this article provides empirical support for the theory-based arguments, and helps develop a contingency framework of the effectiveness of KM efforts.

An empirical taxonomy of the decision-making processes concerning strategic applications of information systems

The strategic potential of information systems (IS) is now well recognized. However, there has been little explicit research on the process through which managers decide to develop IS applications that may provide strategic benefits. Consequently, several divergent views exist about this process, including those that consider it as a planned process, as a process that ignores formal planning methodologies, as a process that takes place incrementally, and as a process that occurs accidentally. This paper addresses this divergence of views by using strategic IS decisions in eightyone companies to generate an empirical taxonomy including five alternative ways of making strategic IS decisions. The five decision-making processes--namely, planned, provincial, incremental, fluid, and political--seem quite distinct, in terms of the activities involved and the influences encountered, as well as the conditions under which they are used. Thus, the paper suggests to managers deciding on potentially strategic systems that no one process should be considered universally applicable. Instead, any one of five processes comprising the taxonomy may be used, depending on the specific circumstances.