Editorial Introduction

We have five articles in this issue and their topics are diverse. The first article in this issue, by Kotusev, is entitled “Enterprise Architecture: A Reconceptualization Is Needed”. This study conducts an extensive Enterprise architecture (EA) literature review to describe the problems with the current concept of EA, demonstrate the critical inconsistencies between this concept and the real practice use of EA

Getting Published in PAJAIS: A Practical Guide from the Editors Perspective

In the previous issue, an editorial comment categorized PAJAIS articles in order to provide future authors with the necessary details on how to connect their works with PAJAIS. PAJAIS has been selected to the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) issued by Thomson Reuters Corporation; it is also recorded by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List, and the UK-based Association of Business Schools Journal Quality List. This practical guide sets out the basic essential requirements framework for what editors consider a theoretical and/or practical contribution to PAJAIS. It outlines the considerations that are a necessary part of any submission, and describes how future submissions will be evaluated

Mediators Between Conflict Resolution and ISD Program Performance

Program teams can greatly facilitate the successful implementation of client ISD programs. We examined the effects of conflict resolution on ISD program performance. A total of 88 responses from IS program managers from 35 IS offshore outsourcing vendors were solicited, obtained, and analyzed. The results indicated that conflict resolution can enhance the level of communication, mutual support and effort among IS program members. The results further suggested that program performance was improved by increasing communication, promoting mutual supportiveness among program members and augmenting effort towards each other’s projects. Directions for management practice and future research are discussed

The Materiality of Information System Planning Maturity to Project Performance

Research for this paper suggests that there is still an alarming lack of success of IS projects in industry today. Two critical success factors that have been examined to date are project manager performance and IS planning maturity. However, the previous studies have bypassed the relative impact of the two factors in combination. This study proposes and empirically tests a model that examines the relationships between project manager performance and IS planning maturity and their relationship to project success. The results indicate that IS planning maturity is empirically linked positively to project success and to project manager performance. Additionally, the performance of the project manager is also positively related to project outcome. The implication for practitioners is that project management is not an activity limited only to the duration of the development of the IS product but project management must have broader implications for organization management

Constructing an Effective Abstract: Guidelines and New Standards in PAJAIS

In the previous issue, we outlined the considerations that are a necessary part of any submission and described how future submissions will be evaluated. In each paper, the abstract contains a summary of all key information, which can provide the audience a glance at the fundamental aspects of the paper. Mastering the skill of writing an abstract is essential to increase the visibility of a research paper and convince potential readers that research issues they care about have been addressed. In this issue, we continue to provide guidelines and new standards for writing and submitting abstracts for PAJAIS. This practical guide sets out the basic elements in an abstract and the journal’s requirements

Why Are Papers Desk Rejected at PAJAIS?: A Practical Guide to Avoiding Rejection

At PAJAIS, 50 % of the new submissions are desk-rejected. As the recognition of the journal continues to grow, we believe that authors certainly can make more improvements to lessen the chances of a desk rejection in the review process. With this in mind, the aim of this editorial is to suggest and provide our future authors with the reasons and actions commonly-related to this regard so as to minimize the possibility of getting a desk rejection. After all, we, as researchers, all long to publish high-quality articles

The Effects of User Partnering and User Non-Support on Project Performance

Information system software development projects suffer from a high failure rate. One of many obstacles faced by project managers is non-supportive users, those not actively sharing in development responsibilities. The coordination activity of early partnering has been proposed in the literature to promote collaboration and enhance user support. The extent of partnering is considered in a model that relates partnering to the risks of user non-support and eventual project success. The model is developed from contingency theory, with residual performance risk as an intermediary variable. A survey of IS project membership provides the data, which indicates that partnering significantly relates to higher user support, less residual risk, and better project performance. Researchers may use variations on the model to examine other barriers to success and the techniques applied to lower the barriers. Practitioners should consider applying partnering techniques to improve software development project performance

The Impact of Organizational Coordination and Climate on Marketing Executives\u27 Satisfaction with Information Systems Services

Information system (IS) managers rely on a number of devices to improve performance and the perception of performance on the part of the user. These techniques can be a variety of tools and organizational structures put in place by various levels of management. Horizontal coordination activities are such a device, one that is intended to improve the communication between users and IS developers. Past research has found an impact of coordination on IS success. However, the climate, general attitudes about the IS function in an organization in which the developers and users operate, can serve as an important moderator. Analysis of a sample of marketing executives indicates that the climate is an important moderator and may impact the ability of structural features to improve perceived performance. Managers must consider the climate as an important feature

From Project Management to Program Management: An Invitation to Investigate Programs Where IT Plays a Significant Role

Information technology is an inherent component of major change initiatives that organizations undertake. However, the increasing technological complexity involved in achieving the benefits of these change initiatives means that organizations must substantially revise management policies and procedures to create and deploy information technology across multiple functional areas and longer time horizons. Industries, governments, professional societies, and early researchers consider prior management practices inadequate and are moving toward practices that promote the integration of multiple functions, projects, environments, and stakeholders to best achieve the benefits of the chosen change. In this editorial, we discuss previous research, highlight key findings, and raise questions about the process of managing multiple projects in change initiatives that contain significant information technology—also known as program management

Persistence Influence for IT Outsourcing: Small and Medium Firms Perspectives of Their Application Service Providers

Given today’s fierce competition among application service providers (ASP), one key question for any ASP is how to retain their customers’ loyalty through partnership establishment and provision of quality of service. However, prior studies focused on the ongoing relationships between the ASP and clients are sparse. This study investigates the perspectives of small and medium firms for their information technology (IT) outsourcing, especially when they are seeking facilitation from the ASP. The study applies the psychological concepts of satisfaction and trust to assess a firm’s loyalty state which can predict the persistence for IT outsourcing. The research questions are: (i) Do the key factors of IT outsourcing enhancement - partnership and quality of service - influence a firm’s IT outsourcing cognition? (ii) Does a small or medium firm’s IT outsourcing cognition - satisfaction and trust - have a positive relationship to its IT outsourcing continuance with an ASP? This study uses the partial least squares approach to develop and test a model that encapsulates these questions. A field study of 158 small and medium firms was conducted. Results show that the key factors of IT outsourcing enhancement and cognition are able to predict a firm’s persistence of IT outsourcing