Being Useful: How Information Systems Professionals Influence the Use of Information Systems in Enterprises

Abstract

Information systems (IS) researchers have developed various frameworks to understand the reactions of individuals to new information systems and their decisions to continue or discontinue their use. While routine use is usually enough to obtain the first-order benefits of information systems once they have been deployed in an enterprise, more extensive and deeper use of these systems is needed to unlock their full potential. Encouraging individual employees to use information systems in this way often requires their IS colleagues to engage more fully with them to overcome uncertainties or a lack of training. This could take the form of IS professionals interacting with their non-IS colleagues formally or informally to provide relevant knowledge and guidance, and by taking the initiative to, for example, preempt challenges or develop useful tools. We draw on the concept of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to examine how the actions of IS employees can make it more likely for non-IS employees to engage in the deeper use of information systems. This study contributes to extending our understanding of the roles that IS employees play in improving the value that enterprises obtain from their IS investments, especially through their extra-role behaviors.