Changes In Information Systems Research Articles

Factors influencing resistance to hospitality information system change

PurposeWhen organizations implement a new information system (IS), they often experience users' resistance behaviors. This study explored the effects of IS self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and anxiety on resistance to IS change within the hospitality domain. It also compared these relationships before and after completing e-learning courses for a new IS.Design/methodology/approachSurvey responses were gathered from current and future hospitality employees. All hypotheses were tested via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results demonstrated that (1) IS self-efficacy had significant effects on both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of IS; and (2) IS anxiety had a significant impact on resistance to IS change, both before and after completing the e-learning courses. The results also showed that self-efficacy had a significant effect on anxiety and, in turn, resistance to change, after completing the e-learning courses, but not prior to the training.Research limitations/implicationsThis study addressed the lack of theory-driven empirical research on predictors of user resistance to IS change, based on social cognitive theory, technology acceptance models, and user resistance research.Practical implicationsBased on the findings, hospitality operators and vendors can focus on improving factors influencing user adoption of a new IS when they design and implement it. Operators can design better change management strategies to reduce resistance to IS change.Originality/valueFew investigations have been conducted to explain the relationships among the aforementioned factors, before and after completing e-learning for a hospitality IS.

Dynamic Activities for Managing an IS-Enabled Organizational Change

The interpretive grounded theory (GT) study analyses information system (IS) enabled organizational change in two private sector organizations. These two organizations, who are long term partners, were developing a new IS product to divergent markets. The data was gathered through 15 interviews, conducted at the phase of initial rollouts. The findings focus on the results of the theoretical coding phase in which selective codes, referred to as change management activities, are related to each other. As a theoretical contribution, the dynamic structure presents how the change management activities appear differently, depending on a set of choices. Several paradoxical situations stemmed from inconsistencies and/or tensions, because the choices did not support the targeted change management activities. The study thus proposes that there is an increasing demand to analyze the sources of paradoxical situations. Paradoxical situations in these five opposing forces were identified: long term vs. short term, macro vs. micro, past vs. future, centralized vs. distributed, and control vs. trust/self-organization. Some paradoxical situations arose because of the nature of the trust-based IS partnership, while others were socially constructed as a result of unintended consequences of actions in relation to the strategic goals. Managerial efforts are increasingly required for identifying paradoxical situations at an early stage and for considering the right balance for the opposing forces in the dynamic IS change process.

Integrated Methodology for Information System Change Control Based on Enterprise Architecture Models

The information system (IS) change management and governance, according to the best practices, are defined and described in several international methodologies, standards, and frameworks (ITIL, COBIT, ValIT etc.). These methodologies describe IS change management aspects from the viewpoint of their particular enterprise resource management area. The areas are mainly viewed in a partly isolated environment, and the integration of the existing methodologies is insufficient for providing unified and controlled methodological support for holistic IS change management. In this paper, an integrated change management methodology is introduced. The methodology consists of guidelines for IS change control by integrating the following significant resource management areas – information technology (IT) governance, change management and enterprise architecture (EA) change management. In addition, the methodology includes lists of controls applicable at different phases. The approach is based on re-use and fusion of principles used by related methodologies as well as on empirical observations about typical IS change management mistakes in enterprises.

Web vs. Mobile

Typically, Information Systems (IS) are used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. On the one hand, mobile IS, with their ubiquitous character, have the potential to extend the application range of traditional IS. On the other hand it is also known that mobile IS have drawbacks, like a small screen size and limited processing power. The question arises if mobile IS changes decision behavior and more importantly decision performance. This paper contains a field experiment in a play money prediction market with over 2,000 participants in which users use a web frontend as well as a mobile application. Its market setting is well suited to study both decision behavior and decision performance on a user-by-user basis. It is found that participants' trading behavior using a mobile device does differ from using a stationary device. Moreover, looking at decision performance, this paper finds significantly lower trading profits when using mobile devices.

Using organizational influence processes to overcome IS implementation barriers: lessons from a longitudinal case study of SPI implementation

A fundamental tenet of the information systems (IS) discipline holds that: (a) a lack of formal power and influence over the organization targeted for change, (b) weak support from top management, and (c) organizational memories of prior failures are barriers to implementation success. Our research, informed by organization influence, compellingly illustrates that such conditions do not necessarily doom a project to failure. In this paper, we present an analysis of how an IS implementation team designed and enacted a coordinated strategy of organizational influence to achieve implementation success despite these barriers. Our empirical analysis also found that technology implementation and change is largely an organizational influence process (OIP), and thus technical-rational approaches alone are inadequate for achieving success. Our findings offer managers important insights into how they can design and enact OIPs to effectively manage IS implementation. Further, we show how the theory of organizational influence can enhance understanding of IS implementation dynamics and advance the development of a theory of effective IS change agentry.

A Support of Independent Processes Outside of Information System, Using an Ontology Driven Application

The purpose of the article is to analyze support of the independent processes, using any tool of information technology (IT) outside of the information system (IS) in the enterprise environment. The useful tool of IT could be the software (SW) ATOM, an ontology-driven web based application. Changes in IS are very expensive, complicated and risky, but it should be suggested solution omitted. The extensive literature review of the current state of the topic is added. The chosen process is innovation; the life cycle of innovation is explained: suggestion of innovation, demand for the solution of innovation, the final solution of innovation, and project for implementation of innovation. The methodology of an ontology preparation for the SW application includes design scheme of classes and associations between classes, preparation table of assignment characteristics to classes, and implementation of an ontology design in SW ATOM. The real possibility to support independent processes outside of IS using an ontology-driven application was experimentally verified and confirmed, and the result of research work could be used for any process outside of IS. Limits of the proposed solution consist of only experimental laboratory verification. For the practical use, it should be necessary first to prepare a prototype for the corporation IS in an enterprise environment.

Collaborative ethnography for information systems research Studying knowledge work practices and designing supportive information systems

Understanding knowledge work and supporting it with information systems (ISs) are challenging tasks. Knowledge work has changed substantially recently and studies on how knowledge work is currently performed are scarce. Ethnography is the most suitable qualitative research method for studying knowledge work, yet too time-consuming, costly and unfocused for the fast changing IS domain. Moreover, results from qualitative studies need to be transformed into artefacts useful for IS requirements engineering and design. This paper proposes a procedure for collaborative ethnography to study knowledge work practices and inform IS requirements gathering and design illustrated with the case of a collaborative ethnographic study of seven organisations in four European countries performed in a large-scale international IS research and development project. The paper also critically discusses the procedure’s applicability and limitations.

Information systems development as situated socio-technical change: a process approach

We outline a process approach for conducting qualitative research on how contemporary information systems (IS) development is enacted in practice. The approach involves a longitudinal case study to obtain rich data from which a detailed process narrative is produced. The narrative is informed by a conceptual model of IS development as situated socio-technical change, generating a theoretical explanation that highlights the temporal, emergent and contingent nature of IS development. This approach extends prior process studies of IS development by focusing on micro-level project activities, examining change as a continuous process and theorising IS change as the outcome of a dynamic trajectory of situated and socio-technical interactions. The methodological approach developed here can be used by other researchers to inform process studies of this complex organisational phenomenon.

Informing strategic IS change: Towards a ‘meta-learning’ framework

This paper combines theoretical models on organisational and Information Systems (ISs) change with the experiential theorising of practitioners from a case study site. Contemporary strands of IS and organisational change literature were reviewed, grouping common themes into planning, leadership, learning and culture approaches. This theoretical basis was extended through a case analysis of an IS organisation in the banking industry which had undergone wide ranging and successful strategic change. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with senior experienced change practitioners from across the organisation. Three propositions on IS and organisational change theory were developed from the finding for this research. Firstly, IS change is a subset of organisational change which is frequently noted and argued through existing academic or ‘espoused’ change theories. Secondly, whether successful or unsuccessful, strategic change is in itself a rich learning experience which may be leveraged through experience, intuition and self-reflexion. Thirdly, managers develop their own ‘theories in use’ of change based on experiential learning and apply them in a highly context specific ‘informed’ way. The main contribution of the research is a ‘meta-learning’ framework for informing IS strategic change which suggests valuable theoretical insights, a practitioner implementation process and proposals for further research directions and limitations.

Development of an IS change reason–IS change type combinations matrix

Firms change their information systems (IS) for various reasons, ranging from compliance with government regulations to the development of new capabilities. When making these changes a firm can choose between four different IS change types: IS introduction, IS extension, IS replacement, and IS merger. This paper proposes that change reasons and change types are interrelated, and that certain reason-type combinations are more likely than others to result in a successful IS change. To identify these combinations, an IS change reason–IS change type matrix is developed. While the matrix is created from prior IS research, we conducted a focus group study of IS professionals to further explore and refine the matrix. The findings from the focus group study reveal that some IS change reason–IS change type combinations are more appropriate than others to carry out the IS change project successfully. We also present three examples of IS change projects to illustrate the use and value of the matrix in practice.

Process clusters for information system diagnostics: an approach by Organisational Urbanism

The objective of this research is to use enterprise architecture models in order to develop a decision aid approach to facilitate change management of information systems (ISs). Therefore, we propose to use Organisational Urbanism. One of the principal added-values of this approach is its ability to analyse IS change constraints at the business process level. Organisational Urbanism starts by generating business process cluster maps, which are based on criteria that facilitate changes. These clusters will then constitute pertinent business domains used to structure the deployment of IS changes. Moreover, they can be used to diagnose specific aspects of ISs transformations. Thus, the objective of this study is to help IS managers to better select and implement change scenarios. The clustering method as well as an application for IS diagnostics are explained. The results are illustrated with a case study in partnership with STMicroelectronics.

Software process improvement with weak management support: an analysis of the dynamics of intra-organizational alliances in IS change initiatives

Software Process Improvement (SPI) projects are large-scale, complex organization-wide change initiatives. They require considerable investments in personnel, time and money and impact just about every aspect of software firms. The group charged with conducting an SPI project has, however, little formal authority to influence or force software professionals to engage in SPI work or to define and implement changes. The SPI literature suggests that successful SPI initiatives depend on strong commitment from top management. But what should the SPI group do if management support is weak? In this paper, we present an analysis of how an SPI group can use alliances to obtain influence and succeed when management support is weak. Our study is based on a 3-year longitudinal field study of SPI change initiatives at Denmark Electronics. Our findings show that a lack of top management support is not necessarily incompatible with success. This research opens an important new area of research on intra-organizational alliances and information system (IS) implementation. It has the potential to offer new theories and practical advice on how IS implementation projects can be more effectively managed.

Explaining information systems change: a punctuated socio-technical change model

We outline a Punctuated Socio-Technical Information System Change model. The model recognizes both incremental and punctuated socio-technical change in the context of information systems at multiple levels – the work system level, the building system level, and the organizational environment. It uses socio-technical event sequences and their properties to explain how a change outcome emerged. The critical events in these sequences correspond to gaps in socio-technical systems. By conceiving information system (IS) change as a multi-level and punctuated sequence of socio-technical events, IS researchers can conceive plausible and accurate process explanations of IS change outcomes, including IS failures. Such explanations are located in the middle range and thus avoid the highly abstract and stylized closed-boxed factor models of change, but go beyond the idiographic open box histories of singular change processes.

Information systems in the adaptation process of the Euro currency in Slovakia

On the 1<sup>st</sup> of January 2009, the Slovak Republic should implement the Euro currency and enter the European Monetary Union. The implementation of the Euro currency is in currently the most important theme in our country. Business companies will benefit most, but they will also bear most of the single-shot costs. Up to 80% of the costs are constituted by the adaptation of information systems (IS). At the end of the year 2007, only 14% of Slovak companies were prepared in the terms of the Euro adaptation in IS. This condition of the business sector is very important and also alarming. Accelerated preparations of the changes in IS are needful, but this project is highly complicated, primarily in big business organizations. The quality of the realized project and the continuous transmission of IS will be a critical point of the firm success on the Slovak and European markets.

Analysis of organizational dependency for urbanism of information systems

Information systems urbanism is a method providing new solutions to manage the complexity of information system (IS) transformations. The present paper expands the urbanism approach by integrating an organizational analysis. Moreover a scientific approach is provided to support the complex decisions involving IS change. For this purpose, dependencies among information processes are formalized. Dependency is based on three complementary dimensions: actors, material resources and information. These dependencies are used to generate process clusters. The mathematical approach used to create several cluster maps is explained, as well as the use of these maps for organizational diagnoses. The goal is to provide support to decision makers for better change management. Finally, a case study in a manufacturing plant in micro-electronics shows the feasibility of the approach.

IS Change Agents in Practice in a US-Chinese Joint Venture

This article presents a case study that documents how information systems (IS) principals in China strategically shifted to different change agent roles to accommodate various IS implementation contingencies in the organization. The case concerns a US-Chinese joint venture, located in China. The change agent models hypothesized by Markus and Benjamin (l996) serve as a lens to interpret the case. Based on observations of how these roles emerged in different phases of implementing packaged software, a meta-category called “adaptor” is offered to visualize what the data revealed and to contribute to this emerging research area. Implications for practitioners and researchers are addressed.

A model of factors affecting an information system's change in state

AbstractManagement are keen to maximize the life span of an information system because of the high cost, organizational disruption, and risk of failure associated with the re‐development or replacement of an information system. This research investigates the effects that various factors have on an information system's life span by understanding how the factors affect an information system's stability. The research builds on a previously developed two‐stage model of information system change whereby an information system is either in a stable state of evolution in which the information system's functionality is evolving, or in a state of revolution, in which the information system is being replaced because it is not providing the functionality expected by its users.A case study surveyed a number of systems within one organization. The aim was to test whether a relationship existed between the base value of the volatility index (a measure of the stability of an information system) and certain system characteristics. Data relating to some 3000 user change requests covering 40 systems over a 10‐year period were obtained. The following factors were hypothesized to have significant associations with the base value of the volatility index: language level (generation of language of construction), system size, system age, and the timing of changes applied to a system. Significant associations were found in the hypothesized directions except that the timing of user changes was not associated with any change in the value of thevolatility index. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Capturing the Technological Dimensions of IT Infrastructure Change: A Model and Empirical Evidence

Information systems (IS) researchers have developed a substantial base of theoretical and empirical research for investigating phenomena associated with information technology (IT) infrastructure and IS implementation. The majority of prior studies have focused on perceptions of IS use, usefulness, support, and similar organizational and human aspects of implementation; however, recent empirical results suggest the importance of technical issues in IS implementation. As a first step toward providing more empirical research on the impact of technological issues in IS implementation, this paper reports on the development and test of a model that captures the dimensions of technological changes in IT infrastructure. Using a survey of 302 individuals who recently participated in a software upgrade, evidence is provided on the content validity, construct validity, and reliability of an instrument measuring four dimensions of perceived technological change in IS

A model of factors affecting an information system's change in state

A model of factors affecting an information system's change in state

Information systems management positions – a market perspective

Information systems (IS) managers have become key senior executives for organising the IT resources for delivering support to businesses. Understanding characteristics of IS managers’ employment positions is hence an increasingly important topic in computer personnel research. An investigation in Singapore that included a job advertisement analysis, surveys and case studies was thus conducted to investigate such aspects. This article presents the findings of the job advertisement analysis concerning what kinds of IS managers the market is seeking and what are the basic conditions for such management positions. The literature in this area asserts that job advertisements represent firms’ wishes and the nature of the conditions required of different IS personnel. The results of this analysis therefore reflect a collective market perspective about the changing IS managerial workplace. The results of the analysis benefit both firms and IS employees in formulating personnel development plans and actions, and raise issues for further research.