New Capabilities: Can IT Service Providers Leverage Crowdsourcing?

Technological advancements enable new sourcing models in software development such as cloud computing, software-as-a-service, and crowdsourcing. While the first two are perceived as a re-emergence of older models (e.g., ASP), crowdsourcing is a new model that creates an opportunity for a global workforce to compete with established service providers. Organizations engaging in crowdsourcing need to develop the capabilities to successfully utilize this sourcing model in delivering services to their clients. To explore these capabilities we collected qualitative data from focus groups with crowdsourcing leaders at a large technology organization. New capabilities we identified stem from the need of the traditional service provider to assume a “client” role in the crowdsourcing context, while still acting as a “vendor” in providing services to the end client. This paper expands the research on vendor capabilities and IS outsourcing as well as offers important insights to organizations that are experimenting with, or considering, crowdsourcing

Developing foundations for knowledge management systems

Knowledge Management (KM) is an important issue in organizations. However there are several barriers to successful KM. In particular, knowledge hoarding, difficulties in identifying organizational knowledge, not understanding KM requirements, and technical difficulties of knowledge representation. In this work we focus on a connection between the managerial and technical aspects of knowledge management. We study the nature of organizational knowledge in order to derive knowledge management requirements to support the design of computerized Knowledge Management Systems. The work consists of three parts: 1) Defining organizational knowledge that needs to be managed. 2) Using the definition of organizational knowledge and its attributes to identify knowledge management requirements. This involves identifying the various facets of knowledge as well as the perceived meta- knowledge requirements of users. 3) Deriving guidelines for the efficient design of knowledge management systems

Why Good Technologies Disappoint

This paper investigates the link between expectations and the success or failure of an organizational information system (OIS). Expectations affect satisfaction (and dissatisfaction), which in turn affects the adoption, implementation, and use of the system. The paper follows expectation confirmation theory (ECT) to explore the link between expectations, satisfaction, and OIS success/failure. Drawing on focus group data, we propose important extensions to ECT to account for the complex nature of OISs. These extensions advance a novel approach to understanding why good technologies can be perceived as unsuccessful, even when they function as designed

Understanding the Role of Goals in Competitive Crowdsourcing Project Selection

Tournament based crowdsourcing, in which multiple individuals or teams compete on given tasks and compensation is based on winning submissions, requires crowd members to carefully consider their choice of task and allocation of resources. In this paper we explore two factors that potentially impact crowdsourcing task selection, namely perceived ability and perceived competition. We further explore a moderating effect of goal orientation on task participation intention. Our results show a positive link between perceived ability and participation intention, and a negative link between perceived competition and participation intention. Both effects were found to be stronger for those with performance orientation than for those with mastery orientation. Our results provide an important insight for crowdsourcing platforms in terms of balancing demand and submissions for competition to ensure all tasks are fulfilled

Classifying Information Technologies: A Multidimensional Scaling Approach

Information technologies are an integral part of any organization and are constantly emerging and evolving. Theories explaining the impact of technological innovations on organizations and the individuals that populate them are developed as new technologies emerge, and future business applications are explored. Despite this richness of research, we have a fairly narrow view of how these technologies are related. Furthermore, new technologies are often assigned labels that strongly connote disconnect from existing technologies despite the fact that few true evolutionary leaps exist and, for the most part, information technologies evolve from each other and share many similarities. Consequently, our ability to apply knowledge gained from the application of one technology to interactions with another is limited. Developing general theories of information technologies require strong understanding of the different technologies that exist and how they are related. To this end, this article puts forward a concise classification of information technologies. Using a multidimensional scaling approach and survey data from IS academics, we identify three dimensions which capture the commonalities and differences among information technologies. We believe that the resultant classification will enable researchers to better integrate existing and future theories, and to move away from technology-specific theories toward more general ones

Thirty Years of IS Research: Core Artifacts and Academic Identity

This paper puts forward an academic identity for the IS discipline which emerges out of its displayed academic artifacts – namely, papers published in two of the discipline’s major journals (Information Systems Research and MIS Quarterly) between 1977 and 2006. Our study focuses on two specific attributes of these papers: the focal IT Artifact and the IS Theme. An analysis of 1056 papers reveals an academic identity characterized by a relatively persistent focus on a small set of IT Artifacts and a similarly small set of IS Themes. The analysis suggests that our academic identity is indicated by two central and enduring intellectual cores associated with a handful of IT Artifacts and IS Themes, which have captured the attention of IS researchers over three decades. This academic identity may be described as the scientific study of the design, development, and management of information technologies, as well as their use by and impact on individuals, groups, and organizations. Of particular interest are information technologies (and their specific components) that enable communication, collaboration, and decision making. A follow up analysis of the papers published in 2007 and 2008 provides support to the central and enduring nature of our discipline’s intellectual core

Primary vendor capabilities in a mediated outsourcing model:can IT service providers leverage crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing platforms that attract a large pool of potential workforce allow organizations to reduce permanent staff levels. However managing this "human cloud" requires new management models and skills. Therefore, Information Technology (IT) service providers engaging in crowdsourcing need to develop new capabilities to successfully utilize crowdsourcing in delivering services to their clients. To explore these capabilities we collected qualitative data from focus groups with crowdsourcing leaders at a large multinational technology organization. New capabilities we identified stem from the need of the traditional service provider to assume a "client" role in the crowdsourcing context, while still acting as a "vendor" in providing services to the end-client. This paper expands the research on vendor capabilities and IT outsourcing as well as offers important insights to organizations that are experimenting with, or considering, crowdsourcing

How Social Media Can Enhance Access to Information through Transactive Memory Development

A key challenge for managing talent in organizations is locating and coordinating expertise. In this study, we propose that employees who use social media can help an organization locate knowledge workers who are vital to organizational growth and competitiveness. We draws on transactive memory (TM) theory to examine the relationship between social media use and knowledge workers’ access to information as mediated by the formation of an organization-wide transactive memory. We conducted the research using a mixed-methods approach that combined insights from a qualitative investigation with a confirmatory large-scale survey in a multinational information technology firm. We empirically show that social media use had a positive but indirect relationship with knowledge workers’ access to information via the mediation of the three dimensions of TM. We discuss our findings’ implications for theory and practice, including human resource management, and directions for future research

Identifying Social Computing Dimensions: A Multidimensional Scaling Study

Despite an increasing popularity, the impact and benefits of corporate social computing remain unclear. This paper aims at rigorously studying social computing tools as a new class of technology and provides a holistic definition and characterization. After a comprehensive literature review, we empirically explored the defining attributes and underlying dimensions of social computing as a whole using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) methodology. The study found that 13 representative exemplar tools differ over three dimensions: (i) their ability to support social interactions, social relations, and communities, (ii) their hedonic versus utilitarian focus, and (iii) their ability to support convergence versus conveyance of generated content. A Property Fitting (ProFit) study confirmed the interpretation of the dimensions. This provided a better understanding of this technology and allowed us to better theorize about the expected benefits and impacts of social computing on organizations, to offer guidelines for adoption and provide suggestions for future research

Exploring Meta-Knowledge for Knowledge Management Systems: A Delphi Study

In recent years, information and communication technologies have been implemented in organizations to support the management of organizational knowledge and facilitate more effective knowledge sharing and problem solving. These technologies are collectively termed knowledge management systems (KMS). Unfortunately, the results of implementing KMS in organizations have not been as encouraging as expected. Specific problems facing organizations involve information overload, not using the systems effectively, or reinventing the wheel. Considering the fact that KMS were expected to solve exactly this latter problem, there is a need for studying why these systems fail and how we can improve them. In this paper, we focus on one aspect of the problem—namely, that organization members are not utilizing the knowledge stored in KMS. We propose that by incorporating some knowledge about the knowledge—termed meta-knowledge—we may improve the ability of organization members to locate knowledge and form attitudes about it. This, in turn, can result in better use of KMS and the application of organizational knowledge. To identify the specific meta- knowledge required for the design of KMS, we conduct an exploratory Delphi study using a panel of 28 professionals from seven organizations. Our results show that the relevance of the knowledge, the experience of the knowledge source in the problem domain, and the credibility of the knowledge are the three most important elements of meta-knowledge