The Relationship Between Psychological Ownership and IT-Driven Value

The concept of psychological ownership is employed in order to enhance our understanding of the relationship between users and information technology professionals and to describe the IT/business process relationship. We use co-ownership to signify a complementary relationship in which users are involved in IT while IT professionals are simultaneously involved in business processes. In an initial study, interviews at four organizations suggest that co-ownership explains information systems’ success and top-rated returns from IT investments. In a second study, we are developing a measure of co-ownership and testing its effect on IT value and performance through a large-scale survey

Factors Inhibiting Information Process Integration

Although researchers have considered process integration in some detail, describing it using expressions such as tight coordination among activities, standardization and tight coupling, operating as a whole, etc., we lack an operational measure. Aubert, Vandenbosch and Mignerat (2003) proposed a formal definition of process integration as the sum of efforts expended by the receiving activities of a process to achieve access, transparency, granularity and timeliness of goods and data, relative to the total value added by the process. In other words, the fewer steps and handoffs and the smaller the physical distance in a process, the greater its integration. To test their proposal, we undertook 42 on-site interviews to understand the degree of integration of ten information processes in four industries. We found that the four properties are collectively exhaustive, but fail the test of mutual exclusivity. In order to differentiate among them, it is necessary to uncover instances of information transformation (granularity and transparency) before looking for needless information transfer (accessibility and timeliness).The degree of integration of the ten processes ranged from 9 percent to 81 percent. Accessibility was the most common reason for a lack of process integration and re-keying known data was the major activity undertaken to make information more accessible. A great deal of the re-keying was for documentation purposes. More research is necessary to understand the purpose and value of documentation vis-Ã -vis the real work accomplished in information processes

An Historical Analysis of Continual Change

We use a systemic process model of continual change to examine patterns of continuity and discontinuity in the policy processing systems of four auto insurance companies. The model draws on theories of deep structure, inertia and punctuated equilibrium. It demonstrates how variation across the units of an organization resulting from diversity in local competitive environments, coupled with continual changes, creates emergent and dynamic patterns of influence at the unit and organizational system level that complicate the innovation diffusion process.Field research using historical methods for data collection enabled us to trace the development of each organization’s primary processing system back to its beginnings and provided substantive support for the oscillations that organizations face as they struggle with the tension between the need to innovate and the complexity that results. The model provides a sensitizing lens that reveals the tensions between the need to differentiate products to address local competitive needs and the role of standards, which enable units to more easily share existing processes and to adopt wholesale system changes en mass

Joint Ownership and Organizational Role: Critical Factors of IT-Driven Value

The concept of psychological ownership is used to enhance our understanding of the relationship between users and information technology professionals, and to describe the IT-business process relationship. We propose that the user-IT ownership interaction determines the role that IT professionals assume in the organization: partner, order taker, advisor or technocrat. Interviews at four major organizations support the existence of these roles, and indicate that the particular role assumed by the IT professionals is likely to be related to the value generated by IT. The study suggests that the highest IT value stems from partnership between the users and the individuals in the IT function, which requires both business process ownership by IT professionals and information system ownership by users

The Effect of Information Technology Investments on Intermediate Performance of Firms

Ourprojectisdesignedtoinvestigatetheimpactsof informationtechnology(IT)investmentson“intermediate”performance variables as opposed to aggregate fm level measures (such as market s h m and profitability). Given the reported potential of IT to streamline administrative processes in organizations, our first objective is to contrast the impacts of IT investments on labor and administrativeproductivity. Further, we observe that none of the empirical studies to date have examined the relationship between IT investments and the utilization of a firm’s resources such as inventory and assets. Resource utilizationmevicsarereferredtoasactivityratios. Giventheincreasingattentiontotheprocessreengineeringphenomenon, it appears that the link between key activity measures and IT investments needs to be investigated. Hence, the second objective of our study is to assess the impact of IT investments on activity ratios

Executive Support System Impact Viewed From A Learning Perspective

Although learning has been associated with information technology, a theory of how technology, learning and organizational performance are related has never been developed. This dissertation employs a cognitive learning perspective to investigate the impact that executive support systems (ESS) have on organizations by proposing and testing a model of the relationships among these constructs.;The model describes the process by which ESS lead to learning and increased organizational performance. It proposes two types of learning: mental model maintenance in which new information fits into existing mental models and confirms them; and mental model building in which mental models are changed to accommodate new information. The model also proposes that mental model maintenance leads to improvements in efficiency and mental model building leads to effectiveness. Efficiency and effectiveness both lead to improvements in organizational performance.;Finally, the model proposes that information retrieval behaviour determines the type of learning that is possible. When ESS are used to answer specific questions or solve well-defined problems, they help to fine-tune operations and verify assumptions--in other words, they help to maintain mental models. However, ESS may be able to challenge fundamental managerial assumptions and build new mental models if executives scan through them to help formulate problems and foster creativity.;The dissertation comprises three empirical phases: an initial survey administered to 73 executive ESS users in nine companies; seven case studies involving 36 executives; and a second survey of 361 executives in 18 organizations. Rarely, if ever, has such a large group of executives participated in MIS research that relates so directly to their particular information needs. In addition, the interplay between quantitative and qualitative methodologies strengthens the conclusions of both by providing context to understand quantitative results and quantitative results to support qualitative findings.;All three phases provide substantive, statistically significant evidence of the links among information retrieval behaviours, learning, and organizational performance hypothesized by the research model. The results can help organizations understand and evaluate the potential ESS have for improving organizational performance. They can also help them develop systems that are better able to support executive learning