Where Do Theories Come From? An Inference-to-the-Best-Explanation Theory of Theory Building (IBET)

This paper presents a theory of theory building and testing called IBET that is based primarily on Lipton’s 2004 book “Inference to the Best Explanation”. First, IBET argues that theories are ideas invented (not discovered) by people to explain how some part of the world works. Second, IBET argues that the goal in theory building is to abduce from the available evidence (including data, the literature, and the theory builder’s personal beliefs) an explanation that provides the researcher with their best understanding of why the phenomena of interest occur. Finally, IBET distinguishes between abductive testing of theories, where the information used for theory building is used for testing, and independent-data testing, where independently collected data are used for assessing the validity of a theory. In the last quarter of the paper, IBET is compared to three rival theories of theory building: (a) Grounded Theory, (b) Eisenhardt’s theory building from case studies, and (c) Shepherd and Suddaby’s recent advice on theory building. The conclusion is that IBET seems to provide a more in-depth, broad-scope, explanation of theory building than these rival theories

“Betting on the House”: Value Creation by Insourcing at Crown Limited

While the outsourcing of information technology has featured heavily in IS research and practice, the alternative strategy of insourcing has received comparatively little attention. Insourcing is often regarded as the “default” or “do-nothing” scenario. In contrast, this paper explores insourcing as a conscious strategy requiring ongoing management to deliver successful business outcomes. This paper presents a single exploratory case study of insourcing at Crown Limited, an Australian-based international gaming company. It contributes to the literature on insourcing by identifying how Crown has oriented its IT function and processes to drive value from insourcing. This research suggests that insourcing is not about just replicating the practices of external suppliers at less cost. Rather, organisations that choose the insourcing path have alternate sources of value creation, by building on their close proximity to the business to drive innovation and new product growth, and the ability to match IT and business risk to control costs

Benefits from CRM Based Work Systems

This paper explores the benefits of CRM-based work systems, and how these benefits are achieved, based on the content analysis of five case study organisations using CRM packaged software. Four main categories of benefits from CRM-based work systems are identified and discussed: improved customer-facing processes; improved management decisions; improved customer service; and increased business growth. These categories are contrasted to benefits frameworks developed by other researchers for ERP-based work systems. The most frequently mentioned benefits identified in this study are (a) access and capture customer information; (b) increased productivity from headcount reductions and other process efficiencies;(c) integration of processes, data and technology;(d) increased sales activities; and (e) more personalised and responsive service to customers. Though benefits (b) and (c) are similar to those for ERP systems, benefit categories (a), (d) and (e) are unique to CRM-based systems

Generalization in is Research: A Critique of the Conflicting Positions of Lee & Baskerville and Tsang & Williams

This paper is a companion to the paper on generalization in IS research by Williams and Tsang published in this edition of the Journal of Information Technology. Its purpose is to discuss the implications of the robust exchange of views about the meaning of the term ‘generalization’ in four papers, two by Lee and Baskerville, and two by Tsang and Williams. The objectives of this paper are, first, to help the reader understand the issues by summarizing the arguments in the four papers, and second, to assess the implications of the debate for future IS research. Our conclusion is that when the papers are interpreted from the perspectives of the respective pairs of authors, most of what they say is sound. However, because their perspectives are so different, their differences of opinion are also very real. As a way of showing that neither pair of authors’ conception of generalization is the ‘last word’ on this topic, the paper also compares key concepts from both pairs of authors with those from Seddon and Scheepers. It is argued that although the Seddon and Scheepers’ framework is also not the ‘last word’, it may prove more useful than either of the two preceding frameworks

Through What Mechanisms Does Business Analytics Contribute To Business Value?

This paper synthesizes from the literature a model of factors affecting organizational benefits from business analytics, then reports a preliminary test of that model. The model consists of two parts: a process model and a variance model. The process model depicts the analyse-insight-decision-action process through which an organization’s business-analytic capabilities (high-quality data, integrated BA platform, and analytic people) create business value. The variance model proposes that the five factors in Davenport et al.’s (2010) DELTA model of BA success factors, plus three from Seddon et al.’s (2010) model of factors affecting organizational benefits from enterprise systems, assist a firm to embed evidence-based decision making in the organization, and so contribute to business value. A preliminary test of the model was conducted using data from 40 customer-success stories from IBM, SAP and Teradata websites. Our conclusion was that the model is likely to be a useful basis for future research

The Importance of Ongoing ERP Training and Support

This paper formulates and tests a model of the factors influencing organisational capacity to use an ERP system effectively in the years after go-live. Three large organisations’ post-implementation studies into end-user training were used as preliminary validation of this model; and to highlight the proposition that users’ ERP knowledge and skills will degrade in the absence of a systematic approach to ongoing training and support. The analysis also found that the negative effects of staff attrition and turnover offset the positive initiatives to enhance end-user competence in the most proactive organisation studied

Going Beyond Operations with Enterprise Systems

Enterprise Systems have become the preferred type of IT systems in most large organizations in the last few decades. These, large-scale, integrated, packaged software suites have been shown to enable operational efficiency by several prior studies .This paper reviews a number of such studies and identifies a gap in the literature. The primary contribution of this paper is that it proposes that Enterprise Systems can create business value, in addition to operational efficiency, by achieving innovation (in product, process and alliance) and enabling better strategic decision making in the adopting firms. The paper also provides empirical evidence using detailed secondary data that supports this proposition. In addition, this study also provides additional evidence for concepts identified in earlier research. This paper reports on the first study of a research-in-progress and this model will be tested further through extensive primary case studie

A Case-Based Assessment of the Descriptiveness of Three CIO Typologies and Validity of Two CIO-Effectiveness Models

This paper uses a case study of a single firm to assess the completeness of three CIO typologies, and the validity of two models of factors affecting CIO effectiveness. With respect to the typologies, our conclusions are that all three typologies were also useful for understanding the role of the CIO at PaperlinX. However, Broadbent and Kitzis’ (2005) binary trusted senior executive leader versus chief technology mechanic classification appears too coarse-grained, with Leider and Mackay’s (2005) typology being more descriptive of the CIO role at PaperlinX. With respect to the two models of CIO effectiveness, our conclusions are that all factors in both models were applicable and important in the case study. The one suggestion we have here is that the Broadbent and Kitzis claim that their model is only applicable for trusted senior executive leader may be too restrictive; it appears to have broader applicability

How Does Enterprise Architecture Add Value to Organisations?

Enterprise architecture (EA) is the definition and representation of a high-level view of an enterprise’s business processes and IT systems, their interrelationships, and the extent to which these processes and systems are shared by different parts of the enterprise. EA aims to define a suitable operating platform to support an organisation’s future goals and the roadmap for moving towards this vision. Despite significant practitioner interest in the domain, understanding the value of EA remains a challenge. Although many studies make EA benefit claims, the explanations of why and how EA leads to these benefits are fragmented, incomplete, and not grounded in theory. This article aims to address this knowledge gap by focusing on the question: How does EA lead to organisational benefits? Through a careful review of EA literature, the paper consolidates the fragmented knowledge on EA benefits and presents the EA Benefits Model (EABM). The EABM proposes that EA leads to organisational benefits through its impact on four benefit enablers: Organisational Alignment, Information Availability, Resource Portfolio Optimisation, and Resource Complementarity. The article concludes with a discussion of a number of potential avenues for future research, which could build on the findings of this study

An Explanatory Framework for Achieving Business Benefits from ERP Systems

ERP systems are large integrated packaged software systems used by thousands of major organizations around the world. Yet outcomes from ERP use can be very different, and there is still not an adequate understanding of how and why organizations have such varying outcomes. Using a case study approach, we retrospectively examined the post-implementation periods in four manufacturing companies as processes within context over time. Analysis of the cases identified nine themes that explain “how” and “why” and form the components of a framework for understanding the achievement of business benefits in the post-implementation period. The new framework extends knowledge in two ways. It identifies new themes and the underlying relationships between them that explain and increase our understanding of how and why organizations have or have not achieved business benefits from ERP systems