Kayworth, Timothy

Sambamurthy, V.

English

AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)ICIS 1997 Proceedings International Conference on Information Systems(ICIS)December 1997The Impact of Corporate Information TechnologyInfrastructure Standards on Enterprise andBusiness Unit IT UseTimothy KayworthBaylor UniversityV. SambamurthyFlorida State UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1997This material is brought to you by the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in ICIS 1997 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationKayworth, Timothy and Sambamurthy, V., "The Impact of Corporate Information Technology Infrastructure Standards on Enterpriseand Business Unit IT Use" (1997). ICIS 1997 Proceedings. 39.http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1997/39462THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINFRASTRUCTURE STANDARDS ON ENTERPRISEAND BUSINESS UNIT IT USETimothy R. KayworthHankamer School of BusinessBaylor UniversityV. SambamurthyFlorida State UniversityThe need for corporate information technology (IT) standards is increasingly recognized as critical to maintainingcompatibility among diverse organizational platforms and for maintaining control over escalating IT costs (ScottMorton 1991; Violino 1995; Weill 1993). Keen (1991) also notes the role of technology standards as importantmechanisms in building enabling IT infrastructures. In spite of the considerable attention given to the importanceof standards, empirical work that addresses their organizational impacts has been sparse.This study utilized a multi-site case approach to investigate the organizational impacts of corporate standards in threedistinct areas:  IT responsiveness to local business needs, IT responsiveness to enterprise-wide integration needs, andIT cost reduction. The nature of standards was conceptualized along two dimensions:  scope and flexibility. Scopeis the comprehensiveness, or depth and detail, of IT infrastructure standards for a particular IT-related domain.  Highscope implies that standards prescribe guidelines for the use of IT assets in greater detail. Flexibility refers to thediscretion or latitude that standards provide individual decision-makers with for deviating from guidelines embodiedin the standards.  Multiple theoretical perspectives were drawn from to relate the use of standards to their associatedimpacts. Coordination Theory (Malone 1987) was used to describe how standards coordinate activities among variousstakeholders to facilitate higher levels of enterprise-wide integration. The concept of economies of scope (Teece1980) was used to describe how the recurrent use of common standards by organizational stakeholders may lead toenterprise-wide cost in areas related to IT purchasing, maintenance, training, and support activities. Finally, theoriesrelated to information processing (Simon 1976; Morgan 1986) were used to describe how IT standards may act asuncertainty reduction mechanisms to help facilitate IT responsiveness at local levels through the provision ofdecisional guidance.The researchers analyzed corporate IT standards from four firms to determine how variations in both scope andflexibility influenced the ability of organizations to reduce IT costs, to facilitate enterprise-wide integration, and topromote greater levels of local IT responsiveness. Multiple sources of data consisting of surveys, structuredinterviews, and archival analysis of standards were collected from a variety of respondents to measure each constructand to evaluate six research propositions. The findings suggest that IT  infrastructure standards act as coordinationmechanisms to provide a balance between two competing organizational tensions: the autonomy needs of localbusiness units and the need for centralized control over enterprise-wide infrastructure by corporate IS (Boynton andZmud 1987).  Evidence from this study suggests that the use of IT standards facilitates enterprise-wide IT costreduction as well as higher levels of integration within organizations. The study also found that standards appear tobe most effective when limits are placed on business unit flexibility in IT decision making. Contrary to expectations,the decisional guidance provided by standards did not appear to facilitate IT responsiveness to local business needs.These findings as well as unanticipated case-study findings are summarized, and managerial implications forimplementing corporate IT standards are presented.Research in Progress463REFERENCESBoynton, A. C., and  Zmud, R. W.  “Information Technology Planning in the 1990s: Directions for Practice andResearch,” MIS Quarterly  (11:1),  pp. 59-71.Keen, P. W.  Shaping the Future, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991.Malone, T. W.  “Modeling Coordination in Organizations and Markets,” Management Science (33:10), 1987, pp.1317-1331.Morgan, G.  The Images of Organizations, Sage Publications, Inc., Newbury Park, CA, 1987.Scott Morton, M. S.  The Corporation of the 1990s: Information Technology and Organizational Transformation,Oxford University Press, New York, 1991.Simon, H. A.  Administrative Behavior, 3rd ed. The Free Press, New York, 1976.Teece, D. J.  “Economies of Scope and the Scope of the Enterprise,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization(1:3), 1980, pp. 223-247.Violino, B.  Gaining the Upper Hand, CMP Publications, Manhasset, NY, 1995.Weill, P.  “The Role and Value of IT Infrastructure: Some Empirical Observations,” in Strategic InformationTechnology Management:  Perspectives on Organizational Growth and Competitive Advantage, R. D. Banker, R.J. Kaufman, and M. A. Mahmood (eds.), Idea Group Publishing, Harrisburg, PA, 1993.

The Impact of Corporate Information Technology Infrastructure Standards on Enterprise and Business Unit IT Use

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The Impact of Corporate Information Technology Infrastructure Standards on Enterprise and Business Unit IT Use

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