Walter Fernandez

The transformational dimension in the realization of business value from information technology

Econometric studies have highlighted factors that appear to explain the differential effects of information technology (IT) on productivity at the firm level. Central to these explanations is the concept of organizational transformation; that value realization from IT depends on time-consuming investments in organizational change and results in new, often intangible, organizational assets. The aim of this study was to further investigate the concept of IT-enabled organizational transformation as a component of the value realized from IT at the firm level. Survey data was analyzed from respondents from 1050 businesses of varying sizes and across industries. Transformational benefits were found to exist as a distinct benefit category and to be closely related to other forms of IT-generated business benefits. They were also an important component of overall IT business value. Qualitative data illustrated these findings and pointed to possible complex causal relationships in the generation of IT value. The findings have implications for models of IT business value generation and for managerial practice.

Using Grounded Theory Method in Information Systems: The Researcher as Blank Slate and Other Myths

The use of grounded theory method (GTM) as a research method in information systems (IS) has gradually increased over the years as qualitative research in general has become more prevalent. The method offers a systematic way to generate theory from data, but is rarely used to its full potential in IS as a number of myths and misunderstandings about GTM prevent researchers from getting the full potential out of the method. To address this problem, we advance the general level of knowledge of GTM. We clarify aspects of the method that are often misunderstood by novice users or casual observers and provide guidance to address common problems. Exemplars from the IS literature are used to illustrate the concepts and to promote the informed use of the methodology. By doing so, this paper will contribute to improving the use of the method and to the quality and dissemination of grounded theory research outcomes.

Grounded theory method in information systems research: its nature, diversity and opportunities

This article introduces this special issue by exploring the nature and diversity of the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) and the opportunities associated with its use in Information Systems (IS) research. As guest editors for this special issue and as practicing grounded theorists, we feel that the nature of GTM is often misunderstood and its label abused in different ways. Therefore, in this editorial article, we attempt to clarify what we see as the essential characteristics of GTM. We also present some issues that are commonly discussed among grounded theorists, but which are less well known publicly. We argue that GTM can be a powerful tool for IS scholars interested in theory development, allowing researchers to conduct pioneering research with both flexibility and rigour. This argument is illustrated by the seven papers that we have selected for this special issue. These papers represent the wide variety of ways in which GTM can be used in our field. Further, they show how, through innovative uses of GTM, IS researchers can address some long-standing research challenges.

What Grounded Theory Is…A Critically Reflective Conversation Among Scholars:

Grounded theory (GT) is taught in many doctoral schools across the world and exemplified in most methodological books and publications in top-tier journals as a qualitative research method. This limited view of GT does not allow full use of possible resources and restrains researchers’ creativity and capabilities. Thus, it blocks some innovative possibilities and the emergence of valuable theories, which are badly needed. Therefore, understanding the full reach and scope of GT is becoming urgent, and we brought together a panel of established grounded theory scholars to help us in this endeavor through a reflective conversation.

Understanding web enjoyment experiences and informal learning: A study in a museum context

There is a significant and growing trend to provide informational learning material online by organizations including businesses, government and cultural institutions. Yet, the concept of enjoyable online learning experiences - specifically when learning is not part of a formal instructional undertaking - has not been well studied, and thus it is not well understood. To redress the gap in the literature, this article reports on a major exploratory study that analyzed the learning and enjoyment experiences of a large number of informal learners in a museum context. The paper shows how designing for an enjoyment experience has unique characteristics that distinguish it from traditional website design and calls for more research with focus on human emotions and reactions. The article also identifies a set of characteristics which would encourage enjoyable online learning experiences for the general public and suggests a number of conceptual guidelines for developing an online learning website for enjoyment.

Case Studies And Grounded Theory Method In Information Systems Research: Issues And Use

Abstract Information systems (IS) are a hybrid of information technology, procedures and people in organizations. The Grounded Theory Method (GTM) was at its inception explicitly developed for research about the interactions of individual human actors in predominantly social settings. Therefore, applying the method to IS research-where organizational cases are often a dominant unit of analysis-requires both an extension of the method and a wider interpretation of its guidelines. This research note discusses these issues and suggests an extended process of analysis of case-based data in line with traditional GTM canons.

IT project evaluation: Why more formal evaluation is not necessarily better

The book within which this chapter appears is published as a research reference book (not a coursework textbook) on Management Information Systems (MIS) for seniors or graduate students in Chinese universities. It is hoped that this chapter, along with the others, will be helpful to MIS scholars and PhD/Masters research students in China who seek understanding of several central Information Systems (IS) research topics and related issues. The subject of this chapter - ‘Evaluating Information Systems’ - is broad, and cannot be addressed in its entirety in any depth within a single book chapter. The chapter proceeds from the truism that organizations have limited resources and those resources need to be invested in a way that provides greatest benefit to the organization. IT expenditure represents a substantial portion of any organization’s investment budget and IT related innovations have broad organizational impacts. Evaluation of the impact of this major investment is essential to justify this expenditure both pre- and post-investment. Evaluation is also important to prioritize possible improvements. The chapter (and most of the literature reviewed herein) admittedly assumes a blackbox view of IS/IT1, emphasizing measures of its consequences (e.g. for organizational performance or the economy) or perceptions of its quality from a user perspective. This reflects the MIS emphasis – a ‘management’ emphasis rather than a software engineering emphasis2, where a software engineering emphasis might be on the technical characteristics and technical performance. Though a black-box approach limits diagnostic specificity of findings from a technical perspective, it offers many benefits. In addition to superior management information, these benefits may include economy of measurement and comparability of findings (e.g. see Part 4 on Benchmarking IS). The chapter does not purport to be a comprehensive treatment of the relevant literature. It does, however, reflect many of the more influential works, and a representative range of important writings in the area. The author has been somewhat opportunistic in Part 2, employing a single journal – The Journal of Strategic Information Systems – to derive a classification of literature in the broader domain. Nonetheless, the arguments for this approach are believed to be sound, and the value from this exercise real. The chapter drills down from the general to the specific. It commences with a highlevel overview of the general topic area. This is achieved in 2 parts: - Part 1 addressing existing research in the more comprehensive IS research outlets (e.g. MISQ, JAIS, ISR, JMIS, ICIS), and Part 2 addressing existing research in a key specialist outlet (i.e. Journal of Strategic Information Systems). Subsequently, in Part 3, the chapter narrows to focus on the sub-topic ‘Information Systems Success Measurement’; then drilling deeper to become even more focused in Part 4 on ‘Benchmarking Information Systems’. In other words, the chapter drills down from Parts 1&2 Value of IS, to Part 3 Measuring Information Systems Success, to Part 4 Benchmarking IS. While the commencing Parts (1&2) are by definition broadly relevant to the chapter topic, the subsequent, more focused Parts (3 and 4) admittedly reflect the author’s more specific interests. Thus, the three chapter foci – value of IS, measuring IS success, and benchmarking IS - are not mutually exclusive, but, rather, each subsequent focus is in most respects a sub-set of the former. Parts 1&2, ‘the Value of IS’, take a broad view, with much emphasis on ‘the business Value of IS’, or the relationship between information technology and organizational performance. Part 3, ‘Information System Success Measurement’, focuses more specifically on measures and constructs employed in empirical research into the drivers of IS success (ISS). (DeLone and McLean 1992) inventoried and rationalized disparate prior measures of ISS into 6 constructs – System Quality, Information Quality, Individual Impact, Organizational Impact, Satisfaction and Use (later suggesting a 7th construct – Service Quality (DeLone and McLean 2003)). These 6 constructs have been used extensively, individually or in some combination, as the dependent variable in research seeking to better understand the important antecedents or drivers of IS Success. Part 3 reviews this body of work. Part 4, ‘Benchmarking Information Systems’, drills deeper again, focusing more specifically on a measure of the IS that can be used as a ‘benchmark’3. This section consolidates and extends the work of the author and his colleagues4 to derive a robust, validated IS-Impact measurement model for benchmarking contemporary Information Systems (IS). Though IS-Impact, like ISS, has potential value in empirical, causal research, its design and validation has emphasized its role and value as a comparator; a measure that is simple, robust and generalizable and which yields results that are as far as possible comparable across time, across stakeholders, and across differing systems and systems contexts.The adoption of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) represents significant financial investments, with alternative perspectives to the evaluation domain coming from both the public and private sectors. As a result of increasing IT/IS budgets and their growing significance within the development of an organizational infrastructure, the evaluation and performance measurement of new technology remains a perennial issue for management. This book offers a refreshing and updated insight into the social fabric and technical dimensions of IT/IS evaluation together with insights into approaches used to measure the impact of information systems on its stakeholders. In doing so, it describes the portfolio of appraisal techniques that support the justification of IT/IS investments. Evaluating Information Systems explores the concept of evaluation as an evolutionary and dynamic process that takes into account the ability of enterprise technologies to integrate information systems within and between organisations. In particular, when set against a backdrop of organisational learning. It examines the changing portfolio of benefits, costs and risks associated with the adoption and diffusion of technology in todays global marketplace. Finally approaches to impact assessment through performance management and benchmarking is discussed.

Rejoinder Moving the Management Field Forward

It has become essential and urgent that significant actors in the management field of research become aware of the current rejection of previously accepted philosophical caricatures. The unrealistic though “tidy” paradigmatic dichotomy, positivism/quantitative/deduction versus interpretivism/qualitative/induction, is being rejected. Instead, a growing and “untidy” consensus is emerging that helps to position grounded theory (GT) in the research landscape. This growing consensus includes perspectives that range from nomothetic to idiographic and highlights data-driven exploratory approaches in opposition to theory-driven confirmatory approaches. While the foundational pillars of GT (emergence, theoretical sampling, and constant comparison) have to be respected when conducting a GT study, there certainly is plenty of room for creativity in the implementation of a data-driven exploratory GT approach. GT is not limited to an all-encompassing method for qualitative or interpretive research: It is much broader ...It has become essential and urgent that significant actors in the management field of research become aware of the current rejection of previously accepted philosophical caricatures. The unrealistic though “tidy” paradigmatic dichotomy, positivism/quantitative/deduction versus interpretivism/qualitative/induction, is being rejected. Instead, a growing and “untidy” consensus is emerging that helps to position grounded theory (GT) in the research landscape. This growing consensus includes perspectives that range from nomothetic to idiographic and highlights data-driven exploratory approaches in opposition to theory-driven confirmatory approaches. While the foundational pillars of GT (emergence, theoretical sampling, and constant comparison) have to be respected when conducting a GT study, there certainly is plenty of room for creativity in the implementation of a data-driven exploratory GT approach. GT is not limited to an all-encompassing method for qualitative or interpretive research: It is much broader and may be applied from various philosophical perspectives that range from nomothetic to idiographic.

Exploring two explanations of loyalty in application service provision

While the application service provider (ASP) market continues to grow, it is fiercely competitive, and ASPs encounter difficulties in retaining customers and achieving long-term profitability. One stream of prior literature suggests that customer loyalty is driven by service quality, while another argues that loyalty is driven by partnerships between the firms. However, to date these competing explanations have not been tested together in the ASP context. This empirical study contributes to the literature by unifying these two previously separate streams of research on customer loyalty. Using a survey of 135 ASP clients, we find a significant relationship between the service quality perspective and the partnership perspective. We thus argue that service loyalty models ought to include both of these constructs in order to effectively explain service loyalty.

Uneasy Alliances: Tradition and ICT Transformation in the Value Chain

Information and Communication Technology-enabled transformation in modern organizations continues to attract managerial and academic attention. One of the less explored aspects of this kind of initiative is the impact of organizational transformations on the culture of employees and the impact of the diverse workforce cultures on transformation initiatives. Set against the backdrop of acculturation theory, this paper examines the delicate balance between aggressively modernizing the competitive profile of the firm on one hand and nurturing the firms various organizational cultures and historical traditions on the other. We contribute to the literature by presenting a case of a large, high-profile firm that experienced the problems of disaggregated cultures arising from small business amalgamation when attempting to transform its value chain operation.