IT Governance Mechanisms and Administration/IT Alignment in the Public Sector: A Conceptual Model and Case Validation

The mechanisms of information technology (IT) governance have been widely recognized as practices to sustain alignment of business and IT units. However, the IT governance literature so far has drawn little attention to the possible idiosyncrasies of governance arrangements in the public sector. In this paper we propose a conceptual model to investigate the relationship between IT governance mechanisms and according performance outcomes specifically for public sector organizations. A survey instrument is developed and validated based on in-depth interviews with IT representatives from three different municipalities in Germany. A cross-case analysis particularly provides evidence for the importance of structural and relational mechanisms and demonstrates how different mechanisms can compensate each other. Our findings provide relevant insights for government practitioners and an impetus for further research

Structural Ambidexterity through Bimodal IT – A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Bimodality of the information technology (IT) function is one answer to the changed expectations towards and perceptions of IT’s role within an organization. Bimodal IT aims at leveraging ambidextrous capabilities, allowing to engage in explorative and exploitative activities at the same time. Research interest of this phenomenon is growing, but there is a lack of cumulative knowledge on bimodal IT including research on the related concepts of structural ambidexterity and IT ambidexterity. Through a systematic literature review of 42 papers published in a wide range of academic outlets, we identify and describe four research themes which are summarized in a conceptual model of forms of bimodal IT, antecedents, facilitators and barriers, and outcomes. Furthermore, we discuss the critique the phenomenon is facing in practice and propose a research agenda. The study contributes to both research and practice by synthesizing existing knowledge and providing guidance for further research

Low-Coders, No-Coders, and Citizen Developers in Demand: Examining Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Through a Job Market Analysis

The emergence of low-code/no-code (LCNC) platform technologies and the resulting increase in citizen development programs are facilitating the democratization of the design, development, and deployment of digital solutions. Citizen developers, non-technical employees who leverage LCNC platforms, are at the heart of this trend. While many firms perceive LCNC and citizen development as a crucial component of their digital transformation strategy, little is known about the evolving roles in this field or the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA). To address this knowledge gap, we processed 113,106 job postings published on Indeed.com. Our topic modeling methodology identified 34 KSA topics and classified them into the three domains platform, business, and technology. We contribute to research by empirically demonstrating which competencies are required to successfully work in the LCNC field. Our findings can guide individual professionals and organizations alike

The Dual Role of IS Specificity in Governing Software as a Service

This study addresses the theoretically neglected role of information system (IS) specificity for application governance, by referring to the allocation of application-related decision authority and task responsibility between business and IT units. Based on the premise of organizational and technical ‘embedding’ and employing a transaction cost theoretic (TCT) lens, we develop the idea that customization and greater functional specificity of an IS lead to both more business unit governance through higher human asset specificity and more IT unit governance through higher technical specificity. Survey data from 76 organizations using different types of Software as a Service provide support for these ideas. Our results unveil a new dualism for explaining IT governance phenomena on the application level. Furthermore, we demonstrate a relevant appropriation of the frequency construct from TCT to this context. Besides practical implications, we outline contributions to IT governance, transaction cost, and IT artifact theories in the IS field

Success of Digital Identity Infrastructure: A Grounded Model of eID Evolution Success

Digital identities (eID) are one of the crucial building blocks of a digital infrastructure. There are major differences between countries of the European Union when it comes to the success of digital identity infrastructure, yet, we lack insights into the conditions for successful digital identity infrastructure evolution (eID evolution success). Taking the outset in a digital infrastructure perspective, we conducted 18 expert interviews in the context of the European Union with the focal case of the eID infrastructure in Germany. We used the grounded theory method to develop a model of eID evolution success. We discuss how the model can be useful to governments, practitioners and researchers alike

Towards a Generation of Artificially Intelligent Strategy Tools: The SWOT Bot

Strategy tools are widely used to inform the complex and unstructured decision-making of firms. Although software has evolved to support strategy analysis, such digital strategy tools still require heavy manual work especially on the data input and processing levels, making their use time-intensive, costly, and susceptible to biases. This design research presents the ‘SWOT Bot’, a digital strategy tool that exploits recent advances in natural language processing (NLP) to perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Our artifact uses a feed reader, an NLP pipeline, and a visual interface to automatically extract information from a text corpus (e.g., analyst reports) and present it to the user. We argue that the SWOT Bot reduces time and adds objectivity to strategy analyses while allowing the human-in-the-loop to focus on value-adding tasks. Besides providing a functioning prototype, our work provides three general design principles for the development of next-generation digital strategy tools

Measuring IT Service Management Capability: Scale Development and Empirical Validation

This paper conceptualizes IT service management (ITSM) capability, a key competence of today\u27s IT provider organizations, and presents a survey instrument to facilitate the measurement of an ITSM capability for research and practice. Based on the review of four existing ITSM maturity models (CMMI-SVC, COBIT 4.1, SPICE, ITIL v3), we first develop a multi-attributive scale to assess maturity on an ITSM process level. We then use this scale in a survey with 205 ITSM key informants who assessed IT provider organizations along a set of 26 established ITSM processes. Our exploratory factor analysis and measurement model assessment results support the validity of an operationali-zation of ITSM capability as a second-order construct formed by ITSM pro-cesses that form three dimensions: service planning, service transition, and ser-vice operation. The practical utility of our survey instrument and avenues for future research on ITSM capability are outlined

AI in Government: A Study on Explainability of High-Risk AI-Systems in Law Enforcement & Police Service

Law enforcement and police service are, related to the proposed AI Act of the European Commission, part of the high-risk area of artificial intelligence (AI). As such, in the area of digital government and high-risk AI systems exists a particular responsibility for ensuring ethical and social aspects with AI usage. The AI Act also imposes explainability requirements on AI, which could be met by the usage of explainable AI (XAI). The literature has not yet addressed the characteristics of the high-risk area law enforcement and police service in relation to compliance with explainability requirements. We conducted 11 expert interviews and used the grounded theory method to develop a grounded model of the phenomenon AI explainability requirements compliance in the context of law enforcement and police service. We discuss how the model and the results can be useful to authorities, governments, practitioners and researchers alike

IT CONSUMERIZATION AND COMPLIANT USE: DO POLICIES MATTER?

Facing the ongoing IT consumerization trend, organizations take different strategies that permit or regulate the acquisition and use of consumer-originated IT devices at the workplace. This paper investigates the effect of two types of IT consumerization strategies (‘laissez-faire’ and ‘middle ground’) on the policy-related attitudes of employees and their level of policy-compliant device usage (voice, email, and data) at two higher education institutions. Based on hypotheses derived from two theories – i.e., procedural justice theory and transaction cost theory – and mixed methods interviews with 36 employees, our findings suggest a paradox where middle ground strategies accommodating for IT consumerization are associated with a higher understanding of, but a lower satisfaction with these policies. Differences in compliant behavior are found for voice and data usage on professional devices. Extending the procedural justice view, we conclude that transaction cost theory serves as a complementary lens to explain policy compliance