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JSIS Editorial December 2010
Journal of Strategic Information Systems 19 (2010) 229–231
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Strategic Information Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsis
Editorial
JSIS Editorial December 2010 Welcome to the final issue of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems for 2010. We would like to commence this issue by recognizing the wonderful efforts of our army of reviewers from all over the world. We have provided a listing of everyone who has helped make JSIS so successful through their role as reviewers during 2009– 2010 at the end of this issue, and we in the editorial team wish publically to acknowledge their many valuable contributions. Without their efforts, JSIS would not be the leading journal that it is; quite frankly it would not be able to exist. We are indeed deeply grateful to them all. Second, we would like to single out the following reviewers who have done a truly outstanding job. They are our ‘‘Reviewers of the Year’’ for 2009: Nelson Granados, Graziado School of Business & Management, Pepperdine University, USA Ole Hanseth, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway John Hulland, Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh, USA Tim Kayworth, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, USA Yongsuk Kim, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Marco Marabelli, Innovation, Knowledge and Organisational Networks (ikon) Research Unit, Warwick Business School, UK Third, we have great pleasure in announcing the JSIS Best Paper Award for 2009. As indicated elsewhere in this issue, the winners are: Anandhi Bharadwaj, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, USA; Mark Keil, Department of Computer Information Systems, J Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, USA, and Magnus Mähring, Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, and Ecole de Management Strasbourg, France. Their paper ‘‘Effects of information technology failures on the market value of firms’’ appeared in the June 2009 issue of JSIS (Volume 18, Issue 2: 66–79). Honorable mentions go to: Maira Petrini, FundaçãGetulio Vargas, Brazil, and Marlei Pozzebon, HEC Montréal, Canada, for their paper ‘‘Managing sustainability with the support of business intelligence: Integrating socio-environmental indicators and organizational context’’, JSIS 18 (4): 178–191, and Dorothy E Leidner, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, USA, Gary Pan, Singapore Management University, Singapore, and Shan L Pan, National University of Singapore, Singapore, for their paper ‘‘The role of IT in crisis response: Lessons from the SARS and Asian Tsunami disasters’’, JSIS 18 (2): 80–99. Let us turn now to the articles that feature in this edition of the journal. We start with another of Georg von Krogh’s Viewpoint articles. Written together with one of his colleagues – Stefan Haefliger – at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, the article raises questions doi:10.1016/S0963-8687(10)00055-7
230
Editorial / Journal of Strategic Information Systems 19 (2010) 229–231
concerning the challenge of systems design in the context of reuse and development when there are large numbers involved in the process. The title of the paper is ‘‘Opening up design science: The challenge of designing for reuse and joint development’’. The paper sets out ‘‘to advance design science by developing a framework for research on reuse and the relationship between external IT artifacts and their users’’. Noting that design science ‘‘will struggle with incomplete cycles of design, relevance, and rigor’’, given open source, the authors propose ‘‘a strategic research agenda that integrates the design of the relationship between an external IT artifact and the user by considering the impact artifacts exert on users’’. They employ aspects of adaptive structuration theory in developing the framework and they derive important implications for research design. The first of our research articles in this issue of JSIS is by Duncan Shaw of Nottingham University Business School, UK and Chris Holland of Manchester Business School, UK. Their article, ‘‘Strategy, networks and systems in the global translation services market’’, proposes a theoretical framework designed to describe business processes within and between individual firms that are meant to support the delivery and management of services. Noting that the globalization of markets ‘‘has led to an increased demand for language translation services that support and enable communication between economic partners’’, the authors develop their framework by a consideration of ‘fit’ between customer-generated problem complexity and the internally-generated complexity of different potential network configuration solutions. A case study of a major international translation services company provides an illustration as to how the framework may be applied in practice, analyzing as it does, the implementation of an electronic market platform that facilitates the coordination of the work of different stakeholders (e.g., translators, translation services companies and their clients) involved in the global translation services market. This is followed by an article titled ‘‘Managing culture creep: Toward a strategic model of user IT culture’’, written by Isabelle Walsh of Strasbourg University, France, Hajer Kefib of Paris Descartes University, France, and Richard Baskerville of Georgia State University, USA. In an earlier Viewpoint article Dorothy Leidner considered issues of culture in the context of globalization (Leidner, 2012). The current article considers IT user culture and its implications for IT strategy within organizations (see also, Huang, et al., 2003). Using a grounded theory approach in multiple settings, the authors develop a conceptual framework that incorporates ‘‘nine archetypal IT user profiles and encompasses their inter-group dynamics’’. As a result of the adoption of a cultural perspective with regard to IT usage within the organization, the framework is designed to inform IT adoption and usage strategy bearing in mind cultural antecedents and determinants of usage constructs that can be found in the extant IS research literature. ‘‘The proposed framework suggests how management can influence the migration of IT user culture (culture creep) [and] can also enrich other acceptance models in order to more fully consider the human factor during IT implementation and adoption’’. From a practical perspective, the authors emphasize ‘‘the importance of culturecustomizing organizational IT socialization, training and evolution programs’’. Our third research article arises from the JSIS Special Issue on security and privacy (Dhillon, et al., 2007). The article: ‘‘Metrics for characterizing the form of security policies’’, is written by Sanjay Goel and InduShobha Chengalur-Smith of the School of Business at the University at Albany, USA. Security policies are widely used tools for the implementation of organizational security, however neither do we have metrics for measuring their effectiveness, nor are there universal standards that can serve as benchmarks. There is considerable variability in security policies based on the way they are written but we have no quantifiable evidence to determine if one kind of policy is better than another. This paper examines the literature on policies and identifies three dimensions (breadth, clarity and brevity) that could be used to characterize how well a security policy is written. These dimensions are validated through a survey of user perceptions. Informed by this empirical evidence, the authors propose objective metrics (along with algorithms for calculating these metrics), that can be used to assess each of these dimensions. The objective metrics are cross validated with user perceptions and are found to be consistent, thus providing a standardized process to characterize the form of a security policy. Such a set of metrics would facilitate the process of evaluating the effectiveness of security policies. The next research article is ‘‘Knowledge management competence for enterprise system success’’ and is written by Darshana Sedera and Guy Gable, both of Queensland University of Technology, Australia. As a result of survey research, employing data gathered from over 300 respondents from 27 organizations that use the SAP Enterprise System Financial module, this article demonstrates a significant positive relationship between knowledge management competence and the ultimate successful utilization of enterprise systems, as conceived in Gable et al. (2008). The authors’ study conceptualizes, operationalizes and validates knowledge management competence ‘‘as a four-phase multidimensional formative index’’. The article identifies important implications for practice and proposes potential future research with regard to evaluating the relationships identified in the paper with possible antecedents and consequences. We end this issue of JSIS with a final Viewpoint article – one intentionally designed to be provocative and thought-provoking – a polemic, indeed. ‘‘Facts, myths and thought-styles. . . and a rallying cry for civic engagement’’ is written by Dave Wastell of Nottingham University Business School, UK, and Sue White of the Institute of Applied Social Studies at Birmingham University, also in the UK. Echoing Desouza, et al. (2007), the article is a call for action to the IS academy to undertake far more research in support of public services, rather than our (over) concentration on research that impacts the private sector. Perhaps, just as significantly, they question our ‘‘enchantment with Theory’’. Employing the early work of Ludwik Fleck, they address the
Editorial / Journal of Strategic Information Systems 19 (2010) 229–231
231
question ‘‘what is a fact?’’ Indeed, the paper begins ‘‘with a brief exposition of the myth that information systems are factrepositories’’ – an argument that should stir the blood, and set the mind spinning of many in our field, we should imagine. And, while the empirical material on which they base their arguments is drawn from child protection cases in the UK, their message is ‘‘universal and strategic for the field’’. Thus, in this issue of JSIS, we have two Viewpoint articles and three research articles written by colleagues from Australia; France; Switzerland; the United Kingdom, and the United States. Once again, we demonstrate the journal’s global reach, and hopefully reinforce the point, so often made, about the growth of strategic issues associated with the use and impact of information and communication technologies in and between organizations – whether private, or public – and in society more generally. Additionally, we provide a critical reflection on our chosen field of study, point to under-researched areas, and emphasize the need for social responsibility as we investigate new strategic directions for Information Systems as the field continues to develop and grow, influencing research – and practice. Once again, we hope that you enjoy these articles, and we look forward to your continued support in 2011. As always, we welcome your reaction and comment. With best wishes Bob Galliers Bentley University, USA
Sirkka Jarvenpaa The University of Texas at Austin, USA
October 2010 References Desouza, K C, Ein-Dor, P, McCubbrey, D J, Galliers, R D, Myers, M D, & Watson, R T (2007). Social activism in information systems research: making the world a better place. Communications of the AIS, 19, 261–277. Dhillon, G, Backghouse, J & Ray, A (eds.) (2007). Special issue on security and privacy issues, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 16 (2), 127–232. Gable, G G, Sedera, D & Chan, T (2008). Re-conceptualizing information system success: The IS-impact measurement model, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9, 377–408. Huang, J C, Newell, S, Galliers, R D & Pan, S L (2003). ‘‘Dangerous Liaisons? Component-based development and organizational subcultures’’, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 50(1): 89–99. Leidner, D E (2010). Globalization, culture, and information: Towards global knowledge transparency, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19 (1), 69–77.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Strategic Information Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsis
Editorial
JSIS Editorial December 2010 Welcome to the final issue of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems for 2010. We would like to commence this issue by recognizing the wonderful efforts of our army of reviewers from all over the world. We have provided a listing of everyone who has helped make JSIS so successful through their role as reviewers during 2009– 2010 at the end of this issue, and we in the editorial team wish publically to acknowledge their many valuable contributions. Without their efforts, JSIS would not be the leading journal that it is; quite frankly it would not be able to exist. We are indeed deeply grateful to them all. Second, we would like to single out the following reviewers who have done a truly outstanding job. They are our ‘‘Reviewers of the Year’’ for 2009: Nelson Granados, Graziado School of Business & Management, Pepperdine University, USA Ole Hanseth, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway John Hulland, Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh, USA Tim Kayworth, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, USA Yongsuk Kim, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Marco Marabelli, Innovation, Knowledge and Organisational Networks (ikon) Research Unit, Warwick Business School, UK Third, we have great pleasure in announcing the JSIS Best Paper Award for 2009. As indicated elsewhere in this issue, the winners are: Anandhi Bharadwaj, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, USA; Mark Keil, Department of Computer Information Systems, J Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, USA, and Magnus Mähring, Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, and Ecole de Management Strasbourg, France. Their paper ‘‘Effects of information technology failures on the market value of firms’’ appeared in the June 2009 issue of JSIS (Volume 18, Issue 2: 66–79). Honorable mentions go to: Maira Petrini, FundaçãGetulio Vargas, Brazil, and Marlei Pozzebon, HEC Montréal, Canada, for their paper ‘‘Managing sustainability with the support of business intelligence: Integrating socio-environmental indicators and organizational context’’, JSIS 18 (4): 178–191, and Dorothy E Leidner, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, USA, Gary Pan, Singapore Management University, Singapore, and Shan L Pan, National University of Singapore, Singapore, for their paper ‘‘The role of IT in crisis response: Lessons from the SARS and Asian Tsunami disasters’’, JSIS 18 (2): 80–99. Let us turn now to the articles that feature in this edition of the journal. We start with another of Georg von Krogh’s Viewpoint articles. Written together with one of his colleagues – Stefan Haefliger – at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, the article raises questions doi:10.1016/S0963-8687(10)00055-7
230
Editorial / Journal of Strategic Information Systems 19 (2010) 229–231
concerning the challenge of systems design in the context of reuse and development when there are large numbers involved in the process. The title of the paper is ‘‘Opening up design science: The challenge of designing for reuse and joint development’’. The paper sets out ‘‘to advance design science by developing a framework for research on reuse and the relationship between external IT artifacts and their users’’. Noting that design science ‘‘will struggle with incomplete cycles of design, relevance, and rigor’’, given open source, the authors propose ‘‘a strategic research agenda that integrates the design of the relationship between an external IT artifact and the user by considering the impact artifacts exert on users’’. They employ aspects of adaptive structuration theory in developing the framework and they derive important implications for research design. The first of our research articles in this issue of JSIS is by Duncan Shaw of Nottingham University Business School, UK and Chris Holland of Manchester Business School, UK. Their article, ‘‘Strategy, networks and systems in the global translation services market’’, proposes a theoretical framework designed to describe business processes within and between individual firms that are meant to support the delivery and management of services. Noting that the globalization of markets ‘‘has led to an increased demand for language translation services that support and enable communication between economic partners’’, the authors develop their framework by a consideration of ‘fit’ between customer-generated problem complexity and the internally-generated complexity of different potential network configuration solutions. A case study of a major international translation services company provides an illustration as to how the framework may be applied in practice, analyzing as it does, the implementation of an electronic market platform that facilitates the coordination of the work of different stakeholders (e.g., translators, translation services companies and their clients) involved in the global translation services market. This is followed by an article titled ‘‘Managing culture creep: Toward a strategic model of user IT culture’’, written by Isabelle Walsh of Strasbourg University, France, Hajer Kefib of Paris Descartes University, France, and Richard Baskerville of Georgia State University, USA. In an earlier Viewpoint article Dorothy Leidner considered issues of culture in the context of globalization (Leidner, 2012). The current article considers IT user culture and its implications for IT strategy within organizations (see also, Huang, et al., 2003). Using a grounded theory approach in multiple settings, the authors develop a conceptual framework that incorporates ‘‘nine archetypal IT user profiles and encompasses their inter-group dynamics’’. As a result of the adoption of a cultural perspective with regard to IT usage within the organization, the framework is designed to inform IT adoption and usage strategy bearing in mind cultural antecedents and determinants of usage constructs that can be found in the extant IS research literature. ‘‘The proposed framework suggests how management can influence the migration of IT user culture (culture creep) [and] can also enrich other acceptance models in order to more fully consider the human factor during IT implementation and adoption’’. From a practical perspective, the authors emphasize ‘‘the importance of culturecustomizing organizational IT socialization, training and evolution programs’’. Our third research article arises from the JSIS Special Issue on security and privacy (Dhillon, et al., 2007). The article: ‘‘Metrics for characterizing the form of security policies’’, is written by Sanjay Goel and InduShobha Chengalur-Smith of the School of Business at the University at Albany, USA. Security policies are widely used tools for the implementation of organizational security, however neither do we have metrics for measuring their effectiveness, nor are there universal standards that can serve as benchmarks. There is considerable variability in security policies based on the way they are written but we have no quantifiable evidence to determine if one kind of policy is better than another. This paper examines the literature on policies and identifies three dimensions (breadth, clarity and brevity) that could be used to characterize how well a security policy is written. These dimensions are validated through a survey of user perceptions. Informed by this empirical evidence, the authors propose objective metrics (along with algorithms for calculating these metrics), that can be used to assess each of these dimensions. The objective metrics are cross validated with user perceptions and are found to be consistent, thus providing a standardized process to characterize the form of a security policy. Such a set of metrics would facilitate the process of evaluating the effectiveness of security policies. The next research article is ‘‘Knowledge management competence for enterprise system success’’ and is written by Darshana Sedera and Guy Gable, both of Queensland University of Technology, Australia. As a result of survey research, employing data gathered from over 300 respondents from 27 organizations that use the SAP Enterprise System Financial module, this article demonstrates a significant positive relationship between knowledge management competence and the ultimate successful utilization of enterprise systems, as conceived in Gable et al. (2008). The authors’ study conceptualizes, operationalizes and validates knowledge management competence ‘‘as a four-phase multidimensional formative index’’. The article identifies important implications for practice and proposes potential future research with regard to evaluating the relationships identified in the paper with possible antecedents and consequences. We end this issue of JSIS with a final Viewpoint article – one intentionally designed to be provocative and thought-provoking – a polemic, indeed. ‘‘Facts, myths and thought-styles. . . and a rallying cry for civic engagement’’ is written by Dave Wastell of Nottingham University Business School, UK, and Sue White of the Institute of Applied Social Studies at Birmingham University, also in the UK. Echoing Desouza, et al. (2007), the article is a call for action to the IS academy to undertake far more research in support of public services, rather than our (over) concentration on research that impacts the private sector. Perhaps, just as significantly, they question our ‘‘enchantment with Theory’’. Employing the early work of Ludwik Fleck, they address the
Editorial / Journal of Strategic Information Systems 19 (2010) 229–231
231
question ‘‘what is a fact?’’ Indeed, the paper begins ‘‘with a brief exposition of the myth that information systems are factrepositories’’ – an argument that should stir the blood, and set the mind spinning of many in our field, we should imagine. And, while the empirical material on which they base their arguments is drawn from child protection cases in the UK, their message is ‘‘universal and strategic for the field’’. Thus, in this issue of JSIS, we have two Viewpoint articles and three research articles written by colleagues from Australia; France; Switzerland; the United Kingdom, and the United States. Once again, we demonstrate the journal’s global reach, and hopefully reinforce the point, so often made, about the growth of strategic issues associated with the use and impact of information and communication technologies in and between organizations – whether private, or public – and in society more generally. Additionally, we provide a critical reflection on our chosen field of study, point to under-researched areas, and emphasize the need for social responsibility as we investigate new strategic directions for Information Systems as the field continues to develop and grow, influencing research – and practice. Once again, we hope that you enjoy these articles, and we look forward to your continued support in 2011. As always, we welcome your reaction and comment. With best wishes Bob Galliers Bentley University, USA
Sirkka Jarvenpaa The University of Texas at Austin, USA
October 2010 References Desouza, K C, Ein-Dor, P, McCubbrey, D J, Galliers, R D, Myers, M D, & Watson, R T (2007). Social activism in information systems research: making the world a better place. Communications of the AIS, 19, 261–277. Dhillon, G, Backghouse, J & Ray, A (eds.) (2007). Special issue on security and privacy issues, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 16 (2), 127–232. Gable, G G, Sedera, D & Chan, T (2008). Re-conceptualizing information system success: The IS-impact measurement model, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9, 377–408. Huang, J C, Newell, S, Galliers, R D & Pan, S L (2003). ‘‘Dangerous Liaisons? Component-based development and organizational subcultures’’, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 50(1): 89–99. Leidner, D E (2010). Globalization, culture, and information: Towards global knowledge transparency, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19 (1), 69–77.