Research Exchange - November 17, 2020 New Directions at MISQ with Andrew Burton-Jones, moderated by Cynthia Beath

After recently being named the new Editor in Chief at MIS Quarterly, Dr. Andrew Burton-Jones sit down with Cynthia Beath to discuss new directions at the renowned journal. Burton-Jones will be discussing the journals current vision and impact on IS scholarship and knowledge. Andrew Burton-Jones is a Professor of Business Information Systems at the UQ Business School, University of Queensland. He obtained his BCom (Hons) and M. Information Systems from the University of Queensland and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Prior to returning to UQ, he was an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. Andrew conducts research on how organizations can use information systems more effectively, how to improve systems analysis and design methods, and how to improve theories and methods in the IS discipline. Recently, much of his work has focused on healthcare contexts. Andrew has taught a variety of courses in the USA, Canada, China, and Australia. He is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems and incoming Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly. Moderator Cynthia M. Beath is a Professor Emerita of Information Systems at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin and an AIS Fellow. She received her MBA and PhD degrees from UCLA. She recently published Designed for Digital, a book about how organizations redesign themselves for the digital era, with colleagues at the Center for Information Systems Research at MIT. Her research has been published in MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research, and she has served as senior editor for both journals. An active advocate for her professional community, she initiated the field’s first junior faculty consortium, served as chair of a division of the Academy of Management, held a number of positions on the Council of the AIS, and helped found MISQ Executive

Addressing business agility challenges with enterprise systems

It is clear that systems agility (i.e., having a responsive IT infrastructure that can be changed quickly to meet changing business needs) has become a critical component of organizational agility. However, skeptics continue to suggest that, despite the benefits enterprise system packages provide, they are constraining choices for firms faced with agility challenges. The reason for this skepticism is that the tight integration between different parts of the business that enables many enterprise systems\u27 benefits also increases the systems\u27 complexity, and this increased complexity, say the skeptics, increases the difficulty of changing systems when business needs change. These persistent concerns motivated us to conduct a series of interviews with business and IT managers in 15 firms to identify how they addressed, in total, 57 different business agility challenges. Our analysis suggests that when the challenges involved an enterprise system, firms were able to address a high percentage of their challenges with four options that avoid the difficulties associated with changing the complex core system: capabilities already built-in to the package but not previously used, leveraging globally consistent integrated data already available, using add-on systems available on the market that easily interfaced with the existing enterprise system, and vendor provided patches that automatically updated the code. These findings have important implications for organizations with and without enterprise system architectures

Theory borrowing in IT-rich contexts : lessons from IS strategy research

While indigenous theorizing in information systems has clear merits, theory borrowing will not, and should not, be eschewed given its appeal and usefulness. In this article, we aim at increasing our understanding of modifying of borrowed theories in IT-rich contexts. We present a framework in which we discuss how two recontextualization approaches of specification and distinction help with increasing the IT-richness of borrowed constructs and relationships. In doing so, we use several illustrative examples from information systems strategy. The framework can be used by researchers as a tool to explore the multitude of ways in which a theory from another discipline can yield the understanding of IT phenomena

Environmental modelling of the Chief Information Officer

Since the introduction of the term in the 1980’s, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been widely researched. Various perceptions and dimensions of the role have been explored and debated. However, the explosion in data proliferation (and the inevitable resulting information fuelled change) further complicates organisational expectations of the CIOs role. If organisations are to competitively exploit the digital trend, then those charged with recruiting and developing CIOs now need to be more effective in determining (and shaping) CIO traits and attributes, within the context of their own organisational circumstances and in line with stakeholder expectations. CIOs also need to determine their own suitability and progression within their chosen organisation if they are to remain motivated and effective. Before modelling the role of the future CIO, it is necessary to synthesise our current knowledge (and the lessons learnt) about the CIO. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and summate the spectrum of key researched ‘themes’ pertaining to the role of the CIO. Summating previous research, themes are modelled around four key CIO ‘dimensions’, namely (1) Impacting factors, (2) Controlling factors (3) Responses and (4) CIO ‘attributes’. Having modelled the CIOs current environment, and recognising the evolving IT enabled information landscape, the authors call for further research to inform the recruitment and development of the future CIO in terms of personal attributes and the measurable impact such attributes will have on their respective organisation

Customs and Excise regional trade statistics : a note

United Kingdom Regional Trade In Goods Statistics, pro- duced by HM Customs and Excise, (Customs and Excise: Quarterly) provide up-to-date quarterly information on exports and imports and were introduced in 1999 “to support the economic decision-making of the devolved Scottish Parliament, Assemblies, and regional bodies within the UK.” Probing and analysis of the data which we undertook indicated a number of problems with the data, not least the wrongful inclusion in the Scottish data of a “catch all” UK category which for some industrial sectors represented almost 70% of the published Scottish data. The data, produced in the scope of National Statistics and “to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice”2 were therefore unusable for the stated purpose. In July 2003, a new methodology was introduced by Customs and Excise with the purpose of clearing up earlier data problems. This article considers whether the data are now fit for purpose, and concludes that many problems still exist

Supporting decision making process with "Ideal" software agents: what do business executives want?

According to Simon’s (1977) decision making theory, intelligence is the first and most important phase in the decision making process. With the escalation of information resources available to business executives, it is becoming imperative to explore the potential and challenges of using agent-based systems to support the intelligence phase of decision-making. This research examines UK executives’ perceptions of using agent-based support systems and the criteria for design and development of their “ideal” intelligent software agents. The study adopted an inductive approach using focus groups to generate a preliminary set of design criteria of “ideal” agents. It then followed a deductive approach using semi-structured interviews to validate and enhance the criteria. This qualitative research has generated unique insights into executives’ perceptions of the design and use of agent-based support systems. The systematic content analysis of qualitative data led to the proposal and validation of design criteria at three levels. The findings revealed the most desirable criteria for agent based support systems from the end users’ point view. The design criteria can be used not only to guide intelligent agent system design but also system evaluation

A comparative analysis of executive information systems in organisations in South Africa and Spain

Executive Information Systems (EIS) grew out of the information needs of executives and are designed to serve the needs of users in strategic planning and decision-making. EIS are high risk information technology (IT) implementation projects. With the emergence of global information technologies, existing paradigms are being altered which are spawning new considerations for IT implementation. Web-based technologies are causing a revisit to existing IT implementation models, including those for EIS. The authors compare two recent survey studies of EIS implementation in well-established organisations in South Africa and Spain. From a comparative analysis, the authors report six identified similarities and three differences in EIS in these countries