ADOPTION OF GRID COMPUTING: AN EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF AN INTER- AND INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACH

Grid computing is a technology that offers the opportunity to share IT-resources between departments in organizations as well as between different organizations. Thereby adopters may obtain significant advantages like cost reduction and efficient IT-resource load balancing. Nevertheless this technology is not established in the industry by now. We developed an adoption model to measure the major factors which are influencing adoption of Grid computing in an organizational environment. As Grid computing is an inter-organizational system providing both inter- and intra-organizational linkages our adoption model accounts for both areas of influence factors. The inter-organizational influence factors were based on a model proposed by Teo et al. (2003) who reverted to the institutional theory. Mimetic-, coercive- and normative pressures exerted by surrounding organizations like suppliers, customers and competitors are representing the inter-organizational influence factors in our adoption model. Following the organizational capability-based theory we included intra-organizational influence factors which consist of IT-related factors, the innovativeness of an organization and the attitude towards outsourcing of IT-resources. Using structural equation modeling our adoption model identified mimetic pressures (emerging from competitors), the innovativeness and the attitude towards outsourcing of IT-resources as factors with significant positive influence on the adoption of Grid computing

Grid Technology as Green IT Strategy? Empirical Results from the Financial Services Industry

Due to the significant increase in IT-related power consumption and the resulting higher CO2 emissions, Green IT has gained considerable attention in industry and society in recent years. Green IT as an engineering paradigm encompasses the multi-faceted, global effort to reduce power consumption and the promotion of environmental sustainability. Due to several parallels between Green IT objectives and the environmental benefits of Grid technology, this article provides first empirical evidence from the financial services industry emphasizing that Grid technology is capable of reducing the environmental impact of IT hardware. Furthermore, the article analyzes the extent to which pressure for environmental sustainability impacts the intention of enterprises to use Grid technology as a means to reduce energy consumption of IT hardware, which is one of the key Green IT objectives