A Collective Action Perspective on Technological Innovation in Business/Government Networks

The history of Information Systems knows numerous examples of IT-enabled innovations which fail to get adopted due to social, political and legal issues. This is especially the case in highly regulated environments, where regulation or existing industry practices need to be changed first, in order to establish grounds for the further adoption of the innovative IT-based solutions. In this paper we explore the domain of customs (with a focus on cross-border trade) as an example of a highly regulated environment. Our main objective is to provide insights into how such institutional practices can be changed by using the lens of “the collective action model for institutional innovation” (Hargrave and Van de Ven, 2006). The collective action model builds on the dialectic theory of change, where an established thesis is confronted with an anti-thesis to lead to a synthesis, which becomes the thesis for the new dialectic cycle (Van de Ven and Poole, 1995). We applied the model to a specific kind of eCustoms innovation project for cross-border trade, the Beer Living Lab, to see whether it is helpful to explain the attempts of the innovators to bring their ideas further. We found out that the dialectic theory of change, which is the basis for the model, as well as the key concepts: framing contest, construction of the networks, enactment of institutional arrangements (and specifically the notion of political opportunity structures) were very helpful sensitizing devices and useful in understanding and discussing in a structured way the developments that we observe in the Beer Living Lab. Even though we did not have sufficient data with respect to the fourth concept of the model, i.e.“collective action process”, we consider the concept was helpful as it stimulated us to think and formulate a number of questions that we can further explore during the forthcoming stages in the Beer Living Lab. Based on the case analysis, we came to a number of insights which may be used to further develop the collective action model, as well as for developing strategies for bringing IT-based innovations in highly regulated environment. First of all, we observed that the notion of construction of networks proposed by Hargrave and Van de Ven is very general and we proposed further conceptualization by using the analytical categories: levels, horizontal interaction and vertical interaction. This further conceptualization allowed capturing, in a structured way, the diversity of actors and interactions that play a role in the mobilization of the network in the Beer Living Lab. Second, from the case analysis we found out that the Beer Living Lab solution was framed very closely to the relevant problems that the EU struggles to address and states in its strategic reports. This indicates a clear linkages between the categories “Framing contests” and “Political opportunity structure” (the latter being part of “Enactment of institutional arrangement”) proposed by Hargave and Van de Ven. A possible field for further research is to provide extension of the collective action model by explicitly explore further the linkage between “Framing” and “Political opportunity structures”. It may be that the innovative solutions have better chance to be institutionalized if they are properly framed according to the existing political opportunity structures. Third, from the case we also gained insights that it may be worth exploring the linkage between the categories “Framing contests” and the “construction of networks”. In the specific networks that we explored in the Beer Living Lab it is not sufficient that only one type of actors commit to the solution, rather all the actors involved in the transaction will need to commit. The further exploration of such linkages may provide insight on strategic choices that can be made when mobilizing a collective action for institutional innovation in the context of cross-border trade. While we applied the model in the specific context of eCustoms, we consider that our findings may be relevant for bringing IT-based innovations in other highly-regulated domains (e.g. energy and heath care). The explorations of these other domains can be a subject for further research

Value Assessment of Business-to-Government Innovations: a Case Study

This article studies value assessments of IT solutions in public as well as in private contexts and aims to identify benefits of business-to-government innovations. The work analyzes the case of the implementation of European common e-customs solutions. Over the last few years, e-customs has become a widely studied topic within the European Union. However, only a little research has been conducted in order to identify benefits of such IT innovations. For this reason, this paper is dedicated to the value assessment of e-customs solutions. Within the framework of a European funded project, the study was conducted collecting data from interviews and workshops involving stakeholders coming from public as well as private organizations. By applying a theoretical value assessment framework, four main areas of improvement due to common e-customs solutions’ implementation were identified: increased security, reduction of administrative burden, facilitated compliance, and better communication. This article contributes towards value assessment research and in particular to a standardized e-customs solution as an example of business-to-government innovations

The Limits of an Ostrich Policy for Resolving Dialectical Conflicts

In this paper, we analyze the introduction of the Australian Integrated Cargo System (ICS) in order to improve our understanding of eCustoms innovations in Europe, primarily Single Window services. We combine the case study with a theorization based on socially constructed change in networks. The development and diffusion of eCustoms solutions takes place within an elaborate network of businesses, government agencies, and technology providers. We focus on the ongoing dialectics during change in such a network. This means we zoom in on the constant confrontations and conflicts of both interests and understandings of contents, processes, and outcomes of change. These conflicts potential shift change in unintended and unwanted directions, resulting in perceived failure. We critically reflect on the practical lessons that surfaced from the Australian ICS-Import case, where we observed a tendency to avoid facing conflicts, ignoring them, or dismissing them as not important. Our analysis demonstrates that using a dialectic approach can provide substantial insights in eCustoms innovation. We offer a characterization of conflicts and we contribute to the discussion of eCustoms in Europe

Moving an eInnovation from a Living Lab to the Real World: Politically Savvy Framing in ITAIDE\u27s Beer Living Lab

Living Labs have been established as real-life pilot settings in which IT innovations are developed and validated. Once these steps have been completed, these innovations are ready to be moved out of the Living Lab environment into the real world. In many cases Living Lab innovations require not only technological but also socio-political and institutional changes to be made in order for them to be adopted. The need of socio-political and institutional changes becomes especially visible in cases where Living Lab participants attempt to propose innovative solutions for domains that are highly regulated. The reason for that is that in such cases, often the existing legal requirement would need to be adjusted first, in order to create grounds for the further adoption of the innovation. The question as to how to achieve such legal changes related to Living Lab innovations in a highly regulated environment has received vey limited attention. In this paper, we specifically focus on understanding of framing processes and how they are used by the Living Lab participants in a politically savvy way to mobilize a multi-level network of actors in their attempts to bring institutional change. We further investigate this framework through a case study involving a variety of framing processes that took place in the Beer Living Lab. The Beer Living Lab is part of the ITAIDE project that aims to develop and test an eCustoms solution for international trade. In addition to our contribution of the conceptual framework and the accompanying empirical case study, we also identify further implications for practitioners who are involved in similar Living Labs in highly regulated environments

Breaking the ice between government and business: from IT-enabled control procedure redesign to trusted relationship building

Tan, Y.H. [Promotor]Butter, F.A.G. den [Promotor