With the increased usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate information sharing and exchange, there has been increased development of and participation in virtual communities. In the Caribbean context, virtual communities are being formed in various sectors (public, private, NGO) in the region for collaboration and information sharing purposes. With the reliance of virtual communities on information and communication technologies, effective IT governance may be critical to the success of a virtual community. This paper presents research which will examine the current state of IT governance in virtual communities in the Caribbean, using a research model. This research will then guide the development of an IT governance framework for virtual communities with special reference to the Caribbean context

Bailey, Arlene

Grant, Gerald

English

AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)AMCIS 2006 Proceedings Americas Conference on Information Systems(AMCIS)December 2006IT Governance in Virtual Communities: Anexploration of the issues in the Caribbean contextArlene BaileyCarleton University- Ottawa- CanadaGerald GrantCarleton University- Ottawa- CanadaFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2006This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in AMCIS 2006 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationBailey, Arlene and Grant, Gerald, "IT Governance in Virtual Communities: An exploration of the issues in the Caribbean context"(2006). AMCIS 2006 Proceedings. 530.http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2006/530Bailey and Grant IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesProceedings of the Twelfth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico August 04th-06th 2006IT Governance in Virtual Communities: An exploration ofthe issues in the Caribbean contextArlene BaileyUniversity of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaicaarlene.bailey@uwimona.edu.jmGerald G. GrantCarleton University, Ottawa, Canadagerald_grant@carleton.caABSTRACTWith the increased usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate information sharing andexchange, there has been increased development of and participation in virtual communities.  In the Caribbean context,virtual communities are being formed in various sectors (public, private, NGO) in the region for collaboration andinformation sharing purposes.  With the reliance of virtual communities on information and communication technologies,effective IT governance may be critical to the success of a virtual community.    This paper presents research which willexamine the current state of IT governance in virtual communities in the Caribbean, using a research model.  This researchwill then guide the development of an IT governance framework for virtual communities with special reference to theCaribbean context.KeywordsIT governance, virtual communities, Caribbean, information and communication technologies.INTRODUCTIONThere has been increasing interest in virtual communities in the Caribbean, as individuals and organizations collaborate ininformation sharing and decision-making.  This has been seen in the number of virtual communities or networks that havebeen established in various sectors of Caribbean society ranging from development agency-supported groups to commercialenterprises.  Virtual communities have been defined as ‘groups of people with common interests and practices thatcommunicate regularly and for some duration over the Internet’ (Ridings, Gefen and Arinze, 2002).  Leimeister, Sidiras andKrcmar (2004) note that there is no consensus on a single definition and present a working definition of virtual communitieswhich states in part: ‘A virtual community consists of people who interact together socially on a technical platform.  Thecommunity is built on a common interest, a common problem or a common task of its members that is pursued on the basisof implicit and explicit codes of behavior’ (page 1).Lee, Vogel and Limayem (2003) note that there are different views on the classification of types of virtual communities andpresent some of the more commonly referenced classifications and types.  The classification of virtual communities by use,social structure and technology base by Jones and Rafaeli (2000) is described.  Whittaker, Isaacs and O’Day (1997) highlightthe support provided by information and communication technologies to existing physical communities, along with thosevirtual communities that were established electronically from the outset.  The variations in types of virtual communities arefurther highlighted as Sagers, Wasko and Dickey (2004) draw on the literature to show their usage within and acrossorganizations and within groups without organizational affiliation for support, discussion, knowledge exchange and sharing.Hummel and Lechner (2002) outline five genres of virtual communities including gaming, communities of interest, andbusiness to business.The diversity that can be found in these virtual communities in terms of participation, coordination, structure, ICTs and otherresources provides an interesting platform to examine IT governance.  Leimeister et al. (2004) present results from anempirical study which show that decisions made in regard to IT application and security are critical factors in virtualcommunity success.  Weill (2004) highlights the importance of IT governance and posits that effective IT governance stemsfrom well-designed mechanisms which are created to ensure a mapping to the enterprises’ goals.  IT governance is concernedwith systematically determining who makes each type of decision (a decision right), who has input to a decision (an inputright) and how these people (or groups) are held accountable for the role. (Weill and Ross, 2004). 4490Bailey and Grant IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesProceedings of the Twelfth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico August 04th-06th 2006A central motivation for this research is to identify and understand the governance mechanisms which may lead to effectiveIT governance in virtual communities. As indicated by Brown and Grant (2005), organizations are attempting to select thegovernance framework which best suit their needs based on their knowledge of the available options.In the Caribbean context, there are factors which could influence the provision and acceptance of IT decision making andinput rights in virtual communities.  These factors could include the culture of coordinators and participants in the virtualcommunities, the influence of donors and consultants, the move towards regional integration and the perceived sustainabilityof the virtual community.  An example of the development of a virtual community illustrates these issues.  A group oforganizations that decide to establish a virtual community may be linked by thematic area of interest; however they are notrelated in terms of governance arrangements.  In this scenario, there may be several stakeholders in the area of informationand communications technology.  A consultant may be contracted to provide guidelines for IT implementation and decisions,based on funding obtained from donors.  The donor may be part of the community, in addition to participants who areworking under the individual governance arrangements of their particular organization.  Once the external parties are nolonger involved with the virtual community, what are the arrangements for information technology governance?  If anorganization or person who has voluntarily assumed responsibility for website hosting and development leaves the virtualcommunity, how is continuity ensured? These issues apply in relation to sustaining both regional and local virtualcommunities.  The Caribbean has specific issues in comparison to other regions, as there are differences among the regions inlevel of telecommunications infrastructure development, skills related to IT governance and regional governancemechanisms.  Silvio (1996) notes that virtual communities were established in the Caribbean fairly recently compared withother  regions,  and indicates  that  the  main  function  of  these  communities  in  Latin  America  and the  Caribbean has  been tocontribute to national and regional integration.  It is also noted that culture impacts the selection of technology for use invirtual communities (Silvio 1996).In generating design requirements for a virtual community, Whittaker et al. (1997) note that some of these issues rest with thedesigners of the virtual community, but also evolve as participation in the community evolves.  The difficulties that can arisein the governance of these resources are highlighted, based on the type of community and the context of its operation.Whittaker et al. (1997) highlight the importance of further investigation to gain insights into the ‘theory and designprinciples’ of these virtual communities.THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKIn a review of the literature on IT governance frameworks and empirical studies, Brown and Grant (2005) identify twostreams of research on IT governance: IT governance forms and IT governance contingencies.  Ribbers, Peterson and Parker(2002) use competing theories of organization decision-making to develop a framework which posits that environmentalcontingencies will have an impact on IT governance processes and the resulting IT governance outcome.  Using the theory ofmultiple contingencies, Sambamurthy and Zmud (1999) investigate the impact of multiple contingencies on the selection ofthe IT governance mode.  In addition, Ripamonti, De Cindio and Benassi (2005) examine the impact of critical successfactors on economic sustainability.  Critical success factors were cited as examples of one of the competing theoriesunderlying Ribbers et al.’s (2002) framework.Peterson (2001) examines, through an exploratory study, the configurations and coordination mechanisms for IT governance.The study focused on three European-based transnational companies. Organization design theory is utilized in thedevelopment of the research framework which looks at the impact of the strategic context on the organization’s governancedesign and the selection of traditional or hybrid governance mechanisms.  For the purposes of this research, some aspects ofthis framework will be incorporated as it will enable the comparison of virtual communities based on their strategic context.Contemporary conceptualizations of virtual communities predicate applying advanced information and communicationstechnologies. A key issue that arises, if this indeed is the case, is how best to govern the acquisition, deployment, anddelivery of IT services when ownership, accountability, and decision and input rights are distributed across the virtualorganization. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks proposed by Peterson (2001), Ribbers et al., (2002), Ripamonti et al.,(2005), and  Sambamurthy and Zmud, (1999) we present a theoretical model illustrated in Figure 1. Using this model wepropose to examine whether the type of virtual community has an impact on the selection of an IT governance mode. We alsoseek to understand whether multiple contingencies such as the corporate governance structure of a participating organization,IT preferences and culture of participants, source of funding, perceived benefits, trust and whether participants knew eachother before the virtual community was established have an impact on the configuration and outcome of IT governance. 4491Bailey and Grant IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesProceedings of the Twelfth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico August 04th-06th 2006Figure 1. Conceptual model – IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesThe model will be used to examine the relationship between the strategic context of the virtual community and the ITgovernance design and process that is selected. The impact of this choice on the IT governance outcome and performance,which includes virtual community and IT functionality and participant satisfaction, will be investigated.  The contingencieswhich influence the IT governance design and the outcome will be identified and examined.RESEARCH METHODOLOGYA case study research design was selected based on the objectives of this research to examine the current state of ITgovernance in virtual communities in the Caribbean and based on the review of the literature which shows that there has beenlimited research in this area.  A case study research design is appropriate for research of this nature as it can be used toexamine a phenomenon through multiple methods of data collection from one or more entities such as people, groups andorganizations (Benbasat, Goldstein and Mead, 1987; Eisenhardt, 1989).  Specifically, a multiple case study approach hasbeen chosen.Using purposive sampling, eight virtual communities in the Caribbean, of various types as classified by Jones and Rafaeli(2000), with population comprised of several countries in the Caribbean, will be selected for this study.  The sample willinclude communities that have been primarily established by one organization, and those which have been organized withextensive assistance from third parties such as NGOs, the academic community or development agencies.  This shouldfacilitate the collection of data on a range of virtual communities and enable the examination of differences between thesevirtual communities. The sample should also include some virtual communities which have been in existence for some timeand those which have just been established.An outline of the proposed virtual communities for investigation is provided in Table 1 based on descriptions provided eitherby coordinators of the virtual communities or on the websites used to facilitate the virtual communities:VirtualCommunityType of community andTechnology BaseThematic areaB1 Interest; Discussion forum, email list BiodiversityD1 Interest; Message board, chat, email list ResearchS1 Interest; email list Sustainable developmentA1 Transaction; email list Agri-businessA2 Interest; email list; discussion forum AgricultureH1 Interest/ transaction; message board Caribbean newsE1 Interest/Transaction; message board,email listEnvironmentT1 Fantasy; online gaming TechnologyTable 1. Description of Virtual Communities 4492Bailey and Grant IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesProceedings of the Twelfth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico August 04th-06th 2006Multiple methods will be utilized for data collection.  Data collection will be conducted through interviews with participantsof the virtual communities, and those with responsibility for IT in the respective virtual communities.  A semi-structuredinterview protocol will be developed based on the initial review of literature available on the virtual communities in thesample, and the theoretical framework.  Based on feedback received from respondents in a pilot study on both the content andformat of the instrument, the survey instrument will be finalized and interviews conducted.  A mixture of quantitative andqualitative data analysis may be used if the pilot study provides the opportunity to create scales on level of satisfaction ofadministrators and participants with IT governance of the virtual communities.  However, a small sample size may not allowthis method of analysis.  Discussion groups will also be held with participants in virtual communities, at first within a singlevirtual community and then with the possibility of interaction among various communities.  These discussions may involveface-to-face or virtual interaction.CONCLUSIONThe analysis of IT governance arrangements in virtual communities in the Caribbean will contribute to the body of researchon IT governance, as there has been limited investigation on its impact on virtual communities.  This research, oncompletion, will provide practitioners with guidelines for the selection of IT governance processes in virtual communitieswithin the Caribbean context.  These guidelines will also provide material for further research in the growing areas of virtualcommunities and IT governance.  The study takes into account the flexible nature and requirements of virtual communities,and the potential for changes in configurations and governance designs.  An assumption was made that the virtualcommunities under investigation were active.  A longitudinal study would assist in confirming the findings of this study.This research has examined the literature on virtual communities and IT governance, and provided an overview of theCaribbean context in which the topic will be investigated.  The research framework and methodology have also beenpresented, with an outline of the expected contribution to the research area and limitations based on the design of the study.As  the  research  progresses,  the  findings  will  provide  further  insight  to  researchers  and  practitioners  on  IT  governance  invirtual communities in the Caribbean.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe thank the reviewers and track chairs for their helpful suggestions and comments.REFERENCES1. Benbasat, I., Goldstein, K. and Mead, M. (1987) The case study research strategy in studies of information systems, MISQuarterly, 11, 3, 369 – 386.2. Brown, A. E. and Grant, G. G. (2005) Framing the Frameworks: A Review of IT Governance Research,Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 15, 696 – 712.3. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989) Building Theories from Case Study Research," Academy of Management Review, 14,4, 532-550.4. Hummel, J. and Lechner, U. (2002) Social Profiles of Virtual Communities, Proceedings of the 35th HawaiiInternational Conference on System Sciences, HICSS-35.5. Jones, Q. and Rafaeli, S. (2000)  Time to Split, Virtually: ‘Discourse Architecture’ and ‘Community Building’ as meansto Creating Vibrant Virtual Metropolises, International Journal of Electronic Commerce and Business Media, 10, 4.6. Lee, F. S., Vogel, D. and Limayem, M. (2003)  Virtual Community Informatics: A Review and Research Agenda,JITTA: Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, 5, 1, 47 – 61.7. Leimeister, J. M., Sidiras, P. and Krcmar, H. (2004) Success factors of virtual communities from the perspective ofmembers and operators: An empirical study, Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on SystemSciences, HICSS-37.8. Peterson, R. R. (2001) Configurations and Coordination for Global Information Technology Governance: ComplexDesigns in a Transnational European Context, Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on SystemSciences, HICSS-34, 8, 8020. 4493Bailey and Grant IT Governance in Virtual CommunitiesProceedings of the Twelfth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico August 04th-06th 20069. Ribbers, P. M., Peterson, R. R. and Parker, M. M. (2002) Designing Information Technology Governance Processes:Diagnosing Contemporary Practices and Competing Theories, Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conferenceon System Sciences, HICSS-35.10. Ridings, C. M., Gefen, D. and Arinze, B. (2002) Some antecedents and effects of trust in virtual communities, Journal ofStrategic Information Systems, 11, 271 – 295.11. Ripamonti, L. A., De Cindio, F. and Benassi, M. (2005) Online communities sustainability: some economic issues,Journal of Community Informatics, 1, 2, 63 – 78.12. Sagers, G. W., Wasko, M. and Dickey, M.H. (2004) Coordinating Efforts in Virtual Communities: Examining NetworkGovernance in Open Source, Proceedings of the Tenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, New York, August2004.13. Sambamurthy, V. and Zmud, R. W. (1999) Arrangements for Information Technology Governance: A Theory ofMultiple Contingencies, MIS Quarterly, 23, 2, 261 – 291.14. Silvio, J. F. (1996)  Virtual Communities and Information Resources in Latin America, Proceedings of INET ‘9615. Weill, P. (2004) Don’t Just Lead, Govern: How Top-Performing Firms Govern IT, MIS Quarterly Executive, 3, 1, 1 – 17.16. Weill, P. and Ross J. W. (2004) IT governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results,Watertown, MA: Harvard Business School Press.17. Whittaker, S., Isaacs, E. and O’Day, V. (1997) Widening the Net: Workshop Report on the Theory and Practice ofPhysical and Network Communities, SIGCHI Bulletin, 29, 3. 4494

IT Governance in Virtual Communities: An exploration of the issues in the Caribbean context

Bailey, A. (Arlene)

Grant, G. (Gerald)

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IT governance in virtual communities: An exploration of the issues in the Caribbean context

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IT Governance in Virtual Communities: An exploration of the issues in the Caribbean context

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