Saonee Sarker

Understanding Business Process Change Failure: An Actor-Network Perspective

In this paper, we use concepts from actor-network theory (ANT) to interpret the sequence of events that led to business process change (BPC) failure at a telecommunications company in the United States. Through our intensive examination of the BPC initiative, we find that a number of issues suggested by ANT, such as errors in problematization, parallel translation, betrayal, and irreversible inscription of interests, contributed significantly to the failure. We provide nine abstraction statements capturing the essence of our findings in a concrete form. The larger implication of our study is that, for sociotechnical phenomena such as BPC with significant political components, an ANT-informed understanding can enable practitioners to better anticipate and cope with emergent complexities.

Exploring Agility in Distributed Information Systems Development Teams: An Interpretive Study in an Offshoring Context

Agility is increasingly being seen as an essential element underlying the effectiveness of globally distributed information systems development (ISD) teams today. However, for a variety of reasons, such teams are often unable develop and enact agility in dealing with changing situations. This paper seeks to provide a deeper understanding of agility through an intensive study of the distributed ISD experience in TECHCOM, an organization widely recognized for its excellence in IT development and use. The study reveals that agility should be viewed as a multifaceted concept having three dimensions: resource, process, and linkage. Resource agility is based on the distributed development teams access to necessary human and technological resources. Process agility pertains to the agility that originates in the teams systems development method guiding the project, its environmental scanning, and sense-making routines to anticipate possible crises, and its work practices enabling collaboration across time zones. Linkage agility arises from the nature of interactional relationships within the distributed team and with relevant project stakeholders, and is composed of cultural and communicative elements. The paper highlights some of the difficulties in developing agility in distributed ISD settings, provides actionable tactics, and suggests contingencies wherein different facets of agility may become more (or less) critical.

Exploring value cocreation in relationships between an ERP vendor and its partners: a revelatory case study

Contemporary business organizations are increasingly turning their attention to jointly creating value with a variety of stakeholders, such as individual customers and other business organizations. However, a review of the literature reveals that very few studies have systematically examined value cocreation within business-tobusiness (B2B) contexts. Using a revelatory case study of the relationship between an ERP vendor with a global reputation and its partners, and informed by the resource-based view of the firm and related theoretical perspectives, we develop an understanding of value cocreation in B2B alliances associated with selling, extending, and implementing packaged software, specifically ERP systems. Our study reveals that there are different mechanisms underlying value cocreation within B2B alliances, and also points to several categories of contingency factors that influence these mechanisms. In addition to providing insights about the phenomenon of cocreation itself, the study contributes to the stream of packaged software literature, where the implications of value cocreation in alliances between packaged software vendors and their partners for the client organizations have not been sufficiently explored.

Examining the success factors for mobile work in healthcare: A deductive study

Mobile work is emerging as an area of major importance in healthcare. However, past literature on this topic remains largely anecdotal, fragmented, and atheoretical. In this paper, we address this gap and adapt the DeLone and McLean model of IS success to the context of mobile work in healthcare, and articulate specific propositions. We then deductively evaluate each proposition based on studies reporting mobile device use in the healthcare context. Through this rigorous evaluation process, we are able to deliver a revised theoretical model that presents a consolidated view of the literature in the area of mobile work in healthcare.

Virtual Team Trust: Instrument Development and Validation in an IS Educational Environment

Trust is a major factor influencing the cohesiveness among virtual team members. While recent research in the fields of information systems and management has examined this construct, there are no existing instruments that measure all the different bases of trust. Drawing on the literature, three different bases of trust applicable to virtual teams have been identified: personality-based, institutional-based, and cognitive trust, with cognitive trust further subdivided into three dimensions: stereotyping, unit grouping, and reputation categorization. This paper reports on the development of an instrument to capture these three bases of trust. Using exploratory, and thereafter, confirmatory factor analysis, the instrument is validated, and the psychometric properties of the constructs are verified in the context of U.S.-Canadian student virtual teams engaged in systems development projects. In addition to confirming the conceptual bases of trust, the instrument validation process found that stereotyping in virtual teams can be of three distinct types: message-based, physical appearance/behavior-based, and technology-based. The development and validation of this instrument should enable future researchers to measure virtual team trust in a broad range of technology and team configurations.

An alternative to methodological individualism: a non-reductionist approach to studying technology adoption by groups

Studies on groups within the MIS discipline have largely been based on the paradigm of methodological individualism. Commentaries on methodological individualism within the reference disciplines suggest that studies embracing this paradigm can lead to potentially misleading or incorrect conclusions. This study illustrates the appropriateness of the alternate non-reductionist approach to investigating group-related phenomenon, specifically in the context of technology adoption. Drawing on theories of group influence, prior research on conflict, technology characteristics, task-technology fit, group communication media, and recent theoretical work surrounding group technology adoption, the paper proposes and empirically tests a new non-reductionist model for conceptualizing technology adoption by groups. Further, the study also empirically compares this non-reductionist model with a (hypothetical) methodological individualist model of technology adoption by groups. Results strongly support most of the assertions of the non-reductionist model and highlight that this model provides a more robust explanation of technology adoption by groups than a methodological individualist view. Further, the study also highlights some conditions wherein the methodological individualist view fails to provide correct explanations. The implications of the studys findings for future research are discussed.

Assessing the relative contribution of the facets of agility to distributed systems development success: an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach

Recent studies have sought to identify different types/facets of agility that can potentially contribute to distributed Information Systems Development (ISD) project success. However, prior research has not attempted to assess the relative importance of the various types of agility with respect to different ISD success measures. We believe that such an assessment is critical, since this information can enable organizations to direct scarce organizational resources to the types of agility that are most relevant. To this end, we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to unearth, from the perspectives of two stakeholder groups of distributed software development projects, managers, and technical staff members, as to which agility facets facilitate (and to what degree) on-time completion of projects and effective collaboration in distributed ISD teams. Furthermore, noting that there is a need for an overall set of prioritized agility facets (by integrating managerial and technically oriented perspectives), we present three ways to aggregate the preferences of the two groups.

Knowledge Transfer and Collaboration in Distributed U.S.-Thai Teams

This article reports on a study that investigates factors influencing knowledge transfer in the context of cross-cultural distributed teams engaged in information systems development. The goal was to examine the validity of a four-factor framework of knowledge transfer (the “4 C Framework”), which proposes that capability, credibility, communication, and culture of the source significantly affects knowledge transfer. The framework is examined in the context of US-Thai distributed teams, as well as within the local subgroups. Results support the role of credibility and communication on knowledge transfer in the cross-cultural distributed teams, and within the local subgroups. Capability was not found to be related to knowledge transfer either in the distributed teams or within the local subgroups. Finally, culture of the source did affect knowledge transfer in the distributed teams, although in a direction opposite to that hypothesized.

Unpacking Green IS: A Review of the Existing Literature and Directions for the Future

Green IS is one of the latest manifestations in the realm of sustainable business practices. The decisions surrounding Green IS implementation strategies, policies, and tools provide compelling challenges for organizations. As practitioners have been highly interested in this topic for a while (known as Green IT), there has also been a recent growing interest in Green IS within the IS academic community. In this chapter, we conduct a systematic and comprehensive review of both the practitioner and academic literatures surrounding Green IS. Specifically, our review includes articles published in the IS academic Senior Scholar’s Basket of Journals, hybrid journals such as Communications of the ACM, IEEE Software, and MIS Quarterly Executive, and practitioner outlets such as CIO magazine and PC World. Through this review, we identify the main streams of Green IS-related studies that have been undertaken within both practice and academia, and offer a holistic picture of the current state of research/interest in Green IS. We then identify the overlaps and differences between the two sides (that is, academia and practice) in an attempt to unearth noticeable similarities/gaps between both perspectives. Finally, we not only identify the trends in Green IS research, but also provide academic scholars interested in Green IS more focused directions on the specific research questions to address with respect to Green IS.

The impact of the nature of globally distributed work arrangement on work–life conflict and valence: the Indian GSD professionals’ perspective

While there is a rich literature exploring the various facets of Globally Distributed Systems Development (GSD), there is scant attention given to the human resource issues such as work–life conflict (WLC) faced by GSD professionals and their valence toward globally distributed work. In this study, we attempt to identify factors that influence offshore GSD workers’ WLC and their valence toward globally distributed work. Specifically, we focus on factors related to the nature of the distributed work arrangements as experienced by offshore Indian workers involved in GSD. On the basis of survey data, we find support for the impact of a number of distribution-related variables on WLC and valence.