Shirish C. Srivastava

Research on information systems failures and successes: Status update and future directions

Information systems success and failure are among the most prominent streams in IS research. Explanations of why some IS fulfill their expectations, whereas others fail, are complex and multi-factorial. Despite the efforts to understand the underlying factors, the IS failure rate remains stubbornly high. A Panel session was held at the IFIP Working Group 8.6 conference in Bangalore in 2013 which forms the subject of this Special Issue. Its aim was to reflect on the need for new perspectives and research directions, to provide insights and further guidance for managers on factors enabling IS success and avoiding IS failure. Several key issues emerged, such as the need to study problems from multiple perspectives, to move beyond narrow considerations of the IT artifact, and to venture into underexplored organizational contexts, such as the public sector.

E-Government Payoffs: Evidence from Cross-Country Data

Using secondary data from 99 countries and IT impact literature as the guiding theoretical perspective; we examine the payoffs from e-government in the form of national performance. We do this by initially examining the relationship of e-government development with the first order government process efficiency parameters (resource spending efficiency and administrative process efficiency). Subsequently we examine the association of these first order efficiency outcomes with the two second order dimensions of national performance (reduction of social divide and business competitiveness). Our analysis reveals significant association of ‘e-government development’ with both the first order ‘government efficiency parameters’. Further analysis reveals significant relationships of ‘government efficiency parameters’ with the dimensions of ‘national performance’. Important role of ‘national business competitiveness’ in the reduction of ‘social divide’ is brought forth through post-hoc analysis. Through this research, we make some important contributions which have implications for researchers, practitioners, public administrators, and policy makers.

Contract Performance in Offshore Systems Development: Role of Control Mechanisms

Although control theory has often been invoked to explain the coordination between client and vendor for information systems development (ISD), insights into its moderating effects for explicating ISD contract performance, especially in the offshore context, is rather limited. Such insights would enable better understanding of variables that have complementary or substitutive effects on performance. Further, the control literature talks about different control modes (e.g., formal and informal control modes classified as behavior, outcome, clan, and self-control modes) without adequately distinguishing among the different control mechanisms enacting each of the control modes. In this research, by explicitly classifying the distinctions that exist within each of the control modes, we uncover the key role played by mechanistic governance in outsourced ISD. Grounding our arguments in the information requirement for performance evaluation, the study theorizes the moderating influence of mechanistic governance on the relationships of contract specificity and relational governance with ISD quality and cost performance. We test the theorized model in a field study comprising 160 offshore ISD projects executed by Indian vendors. Our results establish the significant complementary role of mechanistic governance on the relationships of contract specificity with both cost and quality performance variables. Further, mechanistic governance substitutes the impact of relational governance on cost performance. Thus, the study theoretically as well as empirically establishes the need for conceptualizing mechanistic governance as a viable and significant governance mechanism for offshore ISD contracts. The study also teases out the distinctions between the two prime contract types in vogue for managing offshore ISD contracts, namely, fixed price and time and materials contracts. The study thus contributes not only to control theory but also to the stream of literature examining offshore ISD contracts. Further, the study provides insights to managers on having well-specified contracts and acknowledging the role of mechanistic governance for better performance.

What facilitates e-government development? A cross-country analysis

There are relatively few empirical studies that analyse e-government development from a global perspective. Using secondary data from 115 countries and the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) as the guiding theoretical lens, we examine the facilitators for e-government development. Our research highlights the importance of national technological and organisational (human capital) contexts for e-government development. Our results also show that national environment (institutional and macroeconomic) is not a significant facilitator for e-government development. Further, post hoc analysis reveals the anomalous significant relationship of public institutions with e-government development in the negative direction. Through this research, we make some important contributions that have implications for researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

The Relationship between E-Government and National Competitiveness: The Moderating Influence of Environmental Factors

Using secondary data from 113 countries and the literature on Resource Based View [RBV] and Information Technology [IT] impact as the guiding theoretical lenses, we examine the relationships of e-government development and e-participation with national business competitiveness. E-government development represents the level of functional sophistication of e-government Web sites in a nation whereas e-participation is the level of countrys willingness to engage citizens in e-government processes. In addition, we analyze the moderating role of country environment on the relationships between e-government development and business competitiveness and also between e-participation and business competitiveness. Our results highlight strong association of e-government development as well as e-participation with national business competitiveness. Further, our results also show the moderating role of human capital, public institutions and macro-economic conditions on the relationship between e-government development and business competitiveness of a nation. Human capital and public institutions positively moderate this relationship whereas macro-economic environment marginally moderates the relationship in the negative direction. In contrast to this, the relationship between e-participation and business competitiveness is positively moderated only by national human capital. Further, we also analyze the combined relationship of e-government development and e-participation (e-government maturity) with national business competitiveness and observe that e-government maturity is also significantly related to national business competitiveness. Through this research, we make some important contributions that have implications for research and practice.

Bridging the service divide through digitally enabled service innovations: evidence from indian healthcare service providers

The digital divide is usually conceptualized through goods-dominant logic, where bridging the divide entails providing digital goods to disadvantaged segments of the population. This is expected to enhance their digital capabilities and thus to have a positive influence on the digital outcomes (or services) experienced. In contrast, this study is anchored in an alternative service-dominant logic and posits that viewing the divide from a service perspective might be better suited to the context of developing countries, where there is a huge divide across societal segments in accessing basic services such as healthcare and education. This research views the prevailing differences in the level of services consumed by different population segments (service divide) as the key issue to be addressed by innovative digital tools in developing countries. The study posits that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be leveraged to bridge the service divide to enhance the capabilities of service-disadvantaged segments of society. But such service delivery requires an innovative assembly of ICT as well as non-ICT resources. Building on concepts from service-dominant logic and service science, this paper aims to understand how such service innovation efforts can be orchestrated. Specifically, adopting a process view, two Indian enterprises that have developed sustainable telemedicine healthcare service delivery models for the rural population in India are examined. The study traces the configurations of three interactional resources--knowledge, technology, and institutions--through which value-creating user-centric objectives of increasing geographical access and reducing cost are achieved. The theoretical contributions are largely associated with unearthing and understanding how the three interactional resources were orchestrated for service-centric value creation in different combinative patterns as resource exploitation, resource combination, and value reinforcement. The analysis also reveals the three distinct stages of service innovation evolution (idea and launch, infancy and early growth, and late growth and expansion), with a distinct shift in the dominant resource for each stage. Through an inductive process, the study also identifies four key enablers for successfully implementing these ICT-enabled service innovations: obsessive customer empathy, belief in the transformational power of ICT, continuous recursive learning, and efficient network orchestration.

Technostress creators and job outcomes: theorising the moderating influence of personality traits

Although prior research has examined the influence of technostress creators on job outcomes, insights into the influence of personality traits on the perceptions of technostress creators and their consequent impacts on job outcomes are rather limited. Such insights would enable a deeper understanding about the effects of individual differences on salient job‐related outcomes. In this research, by leveraging the distinctions in personality traits offered by the big five personality traits in the five‐factor model and grounding the research in the transactional model of stress and coping, we theorise the moderating influence of personality traits on the relationships between technostress creators and job outcomes, namely job burnout and job engagement. Specifically, the study theorises the mechanisms through which each of the specific personality traits openness‐to‐experience, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion interacts with technostress creators to differently influence job burnout and job engagement. We test the proposed model in a field study based on a survey of senior organisational managers who regularly use information and communication technologies for executing professional tasks. Although technostress creators are generally associated with negative job outcomes, our results also show that for individuals with certain personality traits, technostress creators may result in positive job outcomes. The study thus contributes to the technostress literature, specifically by incorporating the salient role of individual differences. The study also provides insights for managers who should pay special attention to allocating specific job roles to employees with particular personality traits in order to optimise job‐related outcomes.

Is e‐government providing the promised returns?: A value framework for assessing e‐government impact

Purpose – The purpose of this viewpoint is to provide a framework for future research on e‐government impact.Design/methodology/approach – Using a concise review of major e‐government studies, we present a value framework for assessing the impact of e‐government. Specifically, we integrate the two stakeholder perspectives on e‐government namely the “government” and the “citizen” and identify areas where e‐government can provide returns.Findings – The model delineates three government and five citizen areas where e‐government may create an impact. The three government areas are policy making, program administration, and compliance. The five citizen areas are financial, political, social, ideological, and stewardship. The impact in these areas is created because of two major value‐generating mechanisms: enhancements in efficiency and enhancements in effectiveness. Further, the impact is created at different levels of analyses: local, state, and central governments.Originality/value – This viewpoint provides...

A framework for stakeholder oriented mindfulness: case of RFID implementation at YCH Group, Singapore

Implementation of innovative technology in organizations is often fraught with challenges. Past literature on mindfulness suggests that mindful implementation of innovative solutions facilitates success and enhances effectiveness for the organization. Integrating insights from the mindfulness and stakeholder perspectives, we present and analyze a longitudinal case study of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implementation at YCH Group, a leading logistics provider in the Asia-Pacific region. Our objectives are to examine key attributes of mindfulness as well as identify specific organizational routines that fostered mindfulness at YCH that ultimately paved the way for effective implementation of RFID technology. Important lessons can be learnt from how YCH instituted organizational routines that enabled them to mindfully implement RFID, by explicitly considering both internal and external stakeholders.

Business-Related Determinants of Offshoring Intensity

Some researchers view information systems IS offshoring as extension of onshore IS outsourcing. However, others have the opinion that IS offshoring has its unique characteristics because of which, we cannot extend research made in onshore IS outsourcing without testing its applicability to the offshore context. This tension motivates our research to examine whether determinants of IS offshoring are indeed the same as determinants of onshore IS outsourcing? We examine the role of some firm level determinants of offshoring intensity. The four business related determinants that we analyze in this study are: business size, business cost, business financial leverage, and business performance. Results indicate a significant relationship between business size and offshoring intensity, and also between business financial leverage and offshoring intensity. Based on the results, we analyze similarities and differences between traditional onshore IS outsourcing and IS offshoring. Implications and contributions arising out of this study are also discussed.