The Organizational Impact of Information Technology Fashion

This study examines some of the important organizational consequences of the fashion phenomenon in information technology. An IT fashion is an information technology transitorily collectively believed as new, efficient, and at the forefront of practice. Using data collected from published discourse and annual corporate IT budgets, I have found that companies associated with IT fashions did not have higher performance, but they had better reputation and higher executive compensation in the near term. Companies investing in fashionable IT had lower performance in a short term, but improved their performance later. These findings are expected to add valuable insights to IT innovation research more broadly. The study will also help managers balance between the pressure for performance and the need for social approval when they confront whatever is hottest in IT

Strategic Alignment: What Else? A Practice Based View of IS Value.

Pour l’essentiel, les recherches traitant des valeurs stratégiques du SI restent dans le paradigme de l’alignement stratégique, et utilisent des notions telles que celles de "processus" ou "d’activités". En s’appuyant sur la perspective offerte par les théories de la pratique, cet article offre une alternative en distinguant trois formes de praxis et des valeurs spécifiques.Literature about IS strategic management or IS strategic value is abundant. Nonetheless, the bulk of existing studies are focused on the concept of alignment. They do not make sense of a strategic value "in practice" and still draw on notions such as activity or process to make sense of alignment. By means of a practice-based view of technology, three praxis are suggested here for the modeling of strategic value: legitimacy-related (based on adoption praxis), assimilative (related to design and acceptance praxis) and appropriative (linked to local adaptation and improvisation praxis). They are introduced by means of a "thought experiment" (a short story about a rifle).Strategic alignment; IS strategic value; Practice-based views; strategic value in practice; thought experiments;

Strategic Alignment: What Else? A Practice Based View of IS Value

Literature about IS strategic management or IS strategic value is abundant. Nonetheless, the bulk of existing studies are focused on the concept of alignment. They do not make sense of a strategic value in practice and still draw on notions such as activity or process to make sense of alignment. By means of a practice-based view of technology, three praxis are suggested here for the modeling of strategic value: legitimacy-related (based on adoption praxis), assimilative (related to design and acceptance praxis) and appropriative (linked to local adaptation and improvisation praxis). They are introduced by means of a thought experiment (a short story about a rifle)

Assimilating IT Innovation: The Longitudinal Effects of Institutionalization and Resource Dependence

This study seeks to understand the longitudinal effects of external pressures on the assimilation of IT innovations in organizations, making the distinction between pressures from organizations\u27 exchange partners and pressures from the institutional environment. Analyzing 11-year survey data on the adoption and usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in Fortune 1000 companies, I have found significant evidences for both sources of external pressures for ERP assimilation. Further, the effects of pressures from exchange partners depended on the extent to which ERP was legitimated as an appropriate organizational technology and practice. These findings not only resolve the long-time confounding of institutional theory and resource dependence theory, but also help delineate each theory\u27s applicability in the operation of external factors on IT assimilation. Practically, this research helps guide practitioners to prioritize external pressures and align such pressures with their organizations\u27 internal specifics

Organizing Vision and Local IS Practices: A France - U.S. Comparison

In their organizing vision model, Swanson and Ramiller called for more research on the relationship between interorganizational authorized (legitimated) discourse on IT and organizational practices. In this paper, the research question is focused on national differences in the way cross-organizational discourses interact with local practices. The methodology used includes the identification of so-called authorized ideas through an analysis of both French and U.S. publications (using thematic and lexicometric analysis), as well as IT forums, from 1999 to 2003. This analysis is then merged with an overview of French and American case studies. The results demonstrate strong differences in the OV production systems, as well as in organizational behaviour\u27s reaction to cross-organizational discourse

Building Legitimacy for IT Innovations: The Case of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems

Research on IT innovations has largely relied on economic-rationalistic models and focused on individuals or organizations as the unit of analysis. The intent of this paper is to advance an alternative research agenda that explores the institutional underpinnings of IT innovation diffusion at the inter-organizational level. Through a multi-stage research study, we examine the legitimation function of organizing visions for IT innovations and develop a taxonomy of legitimation strategies employed by the proponents of an IT innovation. We first built a preliminary theoretical framework that synthesizes key arguments on legitimacy drawn from the organization theory and IS literatures. Next, we conducted an exploratory case study of institutional entrepreneurship surrounding computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems. We examined the discursive actions of CPOE vendors by content analyzing 165 press releases issued between 1998 and 2006. We then combined the findings of the literature analysis and the case study to create a taxonomy of discursive strategies for building IT innovation legitimacy. A post-hoc analysis of the case study data reveals a number of interesting patterns in the CPOE vendors’ use of the legitimation strategies and helps us formulate a set of research questions to guide future investigations. The work reported in this paper lays a foundation for a deeper understanding of the role of legitimacy and legitimation in shaping diffusion of IT innovations. It also contributes to the conceptual and methodological elaboration of the organizing vision framework