Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Since DeLone and McLean (D&M) developed their model of IS success, there has been much research on the topic of success as well as extensions and tests of their model. Using the technique of a qualitative literature review, this research reviews 180 papers found in the academic literature for the period 1992–2007 dealing with some aspect of IS success. Using the six dimensions of the D&M model – system quality, information quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction, and net benefits – 90 empirical studies were examined and the results summarized. Measures for the six success constructs are described and 15 pairwise associations between the success constructs are analyzed. This work builds on the prior research related to IS success by summarizing the measures applied to the evaluation of IS success and by examining the relationships that comprise the D&M IS success model in both individual and organizational contexts.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fejis.2008.15.pdf

Measuring information systems success: models, dimensions, measures, and interrelationships

Getting to YES. Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

This working paper has been thoroughly revised and superseded by two distinct articles. The first is a revised and peer-reviewed version of the original article: Okoli, Chitu (2015), A Guide to Conducting a Standalone Systematic Literature Review. Communications of the Association for Information Systems (37:43), November 2015, pp. 879-910. This article presents a methodology for conducting a systematic literature review with many examples from IS research and references to guides with further helpful details. The article is available from Google Scholar or from the author's website. The second extension article focuses on developing theory with literature reviews: Okoli, Chitu (2015), The View from Giants’ Shoulders: Developing Theory with Theory-Mining Systematic Literature Reviews. SSRN Working Paper Series, December 8, 2015. This article identifies theory-mining reviews, which are literature reviews that extract and synthesize theoretical concepts from the source primary studies. The article demonstrates by citation analysis that, in information systems research, this kind of literature review is more highly cited than other kinds of literature review. The article provides detailed guidelines to writing a high-quality theory-mining review.

A Guide to Conducting a Systematic Literature Review of Information Systems Research

Businesses have embraced the Internet to reap economic advantages through the use of Websites Most Website design guidelines fail to address issues of branding and identity formation, focusing instead on concerns adapted from previous technologies However, many firms are not getting their desired results from the Website investments they have made following design guidelines reflecting graphic layout and system usability issues We suggest that Websites should be considered 'electronic storefronts' or public work areas providing frames of symbolic representations that create impressions of their sponsoring firms Our exploratory study shows that Websites influence potential customers' impressions of firms' legitimacy, innovation and caring, and that these impressions vary significantly across firms and industries Website visitors encounter symbols that are compared to mental models stored in memory and used to form impressions of the site and to draw inferences about the firm These inferences have previously been found to influence purchasing behavior Designers should be cognizant of these aspects of e-Business and executives should recognize the power of Web-based impression management Identity management must take center stage in creating a Web presence

/pdf/electronic-window-dressing-impression-management-with-4e6eylr1pw.pdf

Electronic window dressing: impression management with websites

While information technologies present organizations with opportunities to become more competitive, unsettled social norms and lagging legislation guiding the use of these technologies present organizations and individuals with ethical dilemmas. This paper presents two studies investigating the relationship between intellectual property and privacy attitudes, Machiavellianism and Ethical Ideology, and working in R&D and computer literacy in the form of programming experience. In Study 1, Machiavellians believed it was more acceptable to ignore the intellectual property and privacy rights of others. Programmers and R&D workers considered violating intellectual property rights more acceptable. Programmers did not consider violating privacy rights more acceptable, but R&D workers did. Finally, there was an interaction between Machiavellianism, programming and R&D. Machiavellians who also had programming experience or worked in R&D found violations of intellectual property much more acceptable. The effect of Machiavellianism on attitudes toward violations of privacy was enhanced by working in R&D, but not by programming experience. In Study 2, idealists believed it was less acceptable to ignore the intellectual property and privacy rights of others. Relativists found it more acceptable to violate intellectual property rights, though they did not consider it more acceptable to violate privacy rights. Those with programming experience were more accepting of intellectual property rights violations, but not of privacy violations. Finally, programming experience moderated the relationship between idealism, relativism and attitudes toward these unethical information practices. Implications for diminishing unethical behavior among Machiavellians, Relativists, programmers and those in R&D are discussed.

Individual Differences in the Acceptability of Unethical Information Technology Practices: The Case of Machiavellianism and Ethical Ideology

The impact of a discipline's research is constrained by its ability to articulate compelling problems. Well-crafted problems are the foundation for mobilizing the effort, resources, and attention essential to scientific progress and broader impact. We argue that Information Systems (IS) scholars, individually and collectively, must develop the practice of articulating and engaging large-scale, broad scope problems – or grand challenges. To support this position, we examine the role and value of grand challenge efforts in science and engineering based on a theory of grand challenges as socially constructed boundary objects. Conceptualizing grand challenges in these terms implies strategies and approaches for magnifying the impact of IS research by engaging these types of problems.

/pdf/creating-bigger-problems-grand-challenges-as-boundary-2ic462vw3e.pdf

Creating bigger problems: grand challenges as boundary objects and the legitimacy of the information systems field

Attitudes toward computers: when do they predict computer use?

OFFICETECH® is a start-up company providing office assistance over the Internet. It certifies assistants' skills, matches them with potential clients, supervises the quality of the work done and provides software tools for on-line collaboration. The founder, Gayle Barr, believed that this type of assistance would soon be the predominant model due to a convergence of several trends. First, advances in the Internet technology GroupWare and their acceptance by managers and professionals coupled with growth in the amount of coordination across time zones due to globalization and expansion of the number of telecommuting workers indicated that clients would be willing and able to work in a virtual relationship with their assistants. Second, extensive corporate downsizing and a large number of home-based new business start-ups had created a large pool of clients who did not have adequate permanent assistance available. In addition, many companies were now using large numbers of part-time and contract workers on an ongoing basis for clerical and professional positions. Thus, Barr reasoned, the technology was accessible, the need for part-time and temporary administrative assistance was apparent and clients were now sufficiently comfortable with such arrangements that the OFFICETECH® concept should be feasible.

https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=icis1999

Susan J. Winter

Papers

Electronic window dressing: impression management with websites

Individual Differences in the Acceptability of Unethical Information Technology Practices: The Case of Machiavellianism and Ethical Ideology

Creating bigger problems: grand challenges as boundary objects and the legitimacy of the information systems field

Attitudes toward computers: when do they predict computer use?

OFFICETECH: a new paradigm in office services?