Knowledge that Transforms

This paper proposes a four-tiered framework for classifying and understanding the myriad of information systems development methodologies that have been proposed in the literature. The framework is divided into four levels: paradigms, approaches, methodologies, and techniques. This paper primarily focuses on the two intermediate levels: approaches and methodologies. The principal contribution of the framework is in providing a new kind of "deep structure" for better understanding the intellectual core of methodologies and approaches and their interrelationships. It achieves this goal by articulating a parsimonious set of foundational features that are shared by subsets of methodologies and approaches. To illustrate how the framework's deep structure provides a better understanding of methodologies' intellectual core, it is applied to eleven examples. The paper also introduces and illustrates a procedure for "accommodating" and "assimilating" new information systems development methodologies in addition to the eleven already discussed. This procedure provides the framework with the necessary flexibility for handling the continuing proliferation of new methodologies.

This paper extends the limits-to-value model of Davern and Kauffman to explore market and process-level factors that impact value flows to firms for their information technology (IT) investments. We characterize IT value in terms of potential value and realized value, and show how each is subject to different effects - limits to value - that diminish the benefits of the investment. Our typology identifies barriers specific to the valuation process (industry and organizational barriers), and to the conversion process (resource, knowledge and usage barriers). Following the development of our analytical framework from existing economic and organizational theories of IT valuation and technology adoption and diffusion, we analyze a series of case studies of Internet-based travel reservation systems in electronic commerce (EC). These cases provide evidence in support of the usefulness of the framework, and illustrate the extent of the difficulties faced by organizations in making their investments in EC systems pay off.

There have been several attempts in the past to assess the impact of information technology on firm performance that have yielded conflicting results. Researchers have been unable to conclude that IT spending by an organization results in increases in key performance indicators. Two major recent studies have attempted to address the issue by putting greater emphasis on the theoretical underpinnings of the solution to the problem, although they chose different theoretical frameworks. The present study extends that work to yield a framework that shows the relationship between firm performance and both IT and corporate investments. The data used to validate the framework exceeds that used in previous analyses in both quality and quantity, thereby permitting appropriate statistical analyses. A large database consisting of over 2,000 observations of 624 firms was constructed, using data provided by the International Data Corporation, Standard & Poor's Compustat, and Moody's. This allowed us to pose the following research questions: (a) Can the relationship between sets of investment measures and firm performance be demonstrated (as opposed to individual measures)? (b) How are IT investments related to a firm's market value, market share, sales, and assets? and (c) Is there a difference in the effect of computer capital and noncomputer capital?Seven measures of firm performance were initially incorporated as outputs in the framework, related to sales, assets, and market value. Similarly, seven input measures of IT and corporate investments were initially included. Two output measures and one input were eventually eliminated to formulate a refined framework with strong explanatory power. After careful editing, canonical analyses were performed, resulting in several important findings. Both IT and corporate investments have a strong positive relationship with sales, assets, and equity, but not with net income. Spending on IS staff and staff training is positively correlated with firm performance, even more so than computer capital.Key Words and Phrases: information technology payoffinformation technology investmentorganizational performance Additional informationNotes on contributorsSumit SircarSumit Sircar is Professor and Chairman of the Information Systems and Management Sciences Department in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington and Director of the Center for Information Technologies Management. His doctoral degree was earned at the Harvard Business School and he is also a Certified Computing Professional and a Disaster Recovery Planner. Dr. Sircar has published numerous articles in the area of information resource management in a large number of journals, including the Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Information & Management, and Journal of Database Management.Joe L. TurnbowJoe L. Turnbow retired from the Air Force in 1990 after twenty-two years of service. While in the Air Force, he participated in several major feasibility studies and in the planning and implementation of two major computer systems. He was also responsible for evaluating productivity before and after installation of these systems. After retiring, he completed a B.S. in computer science and a B.B.A. in accounting at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and an M.S. in information systems at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is currently a consultant in the Oil and Gas Division of Computer Task Group Inc. in Anchorage, Alaska.Bijoy BordoloiBijoy Bordoloi is a Visiting Associate Professor in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he also received his Ph.D. in MIS. His current research interests include data modeling, data administration, distributed data base systems, and software project management. His publications have appeared in several journals, including Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Information Science and Technology, Journal of Microcomputer Systems Management, International Journal of Information Resource Management, and International Journal of Production and Operations Management.

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:A comprehensive review was conducted of IT value articles in the Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, and MIS Quarterly from 1993 to 1998. IT-value measures published during this period were documented, classified, analyzed, and reported. The review of these journal articles revealed a schism between the use of organization-level measures and other measures. Communications of the ACM and Information Systems Research also provided strong evidence of a schism between the use of quantitative and qualitative measures in IT-value research. The Journal of Management information Systems and MIS Quarterly data provided more limited evidence of this schism as well. These schisms have become more pronounced over time. This may be due partly to an increasing reliance on secondary data set analyses that use only quantitative measures and organization-level analyses. The current research confirmed what many researchers suspect—schisms exist, and may be deepening, in IT-value research.

:Information technology (IT) value has been measured at various levels of analysis, yet few authors would contend that the search for value has reached a point where practitioners and theoreticians are satisfied with its outcomes. We present a new perspective that emphasizes the importance of understanding where potential value lies and how best to relate it contextually to the measurement of the firm’s realized value across multiple levels of analysis. We develop the idea that complementary assets (especially business process design and human capital) influence the firm’s realization of value, using concepts such as locus of value and value conversion contingencies. Expanding beyond earlier process models of IT value, which begin with IT expenditure, our analysis of IT value emphasizes the consideration of potential value for an IT investment both in ex ante project selection, and ex post investment evaluation. We illustrate and validate the application of our framework using IT investments in a variety of business domains.

This paper presents a descriptive evaluation of 54 case and field studies from 79 published papers spanning two decades of group support systems (GSS) research. It organizes the methodology and results of these studies into a four-factor framework consisting of contextual factors, intervening factors, adaptation factors, and outcome factors. The tables will provide the GSS researcher with a summary of what has been studied. The appendices provide a detailed description of the methodology and the results. Keywords: CASE STUDIES DESCRIPTIVE EVALUATION FIELD STUDIES GROUP SUPPORT SYSTEM RESEARCH INTEGRATION

:With the enormous investments in Information Technology (IT), the question of payoffs from IT has become increasingly important. Organizations continue to question the benefits from IT investments especially in conjunction with corporate initiatives such as business process reengineering (BPR). Furthermore, the impact of technology on nonfinancial outcomes such as customer satisfaction and quality is gaining interest.However, studies examining the IT—performance relationship have been far from conclusive. The difficulty in identifying impacts from technology has been the isolation of benefits of IT from other factors that may also contribute to organizational performance. Furthermore, benefits from technology investments may be realized over an extended period of time. Finally, IT benefits may accrue when they are done in concert with other organizational initiatives such as business process reengineering. This calls for studies that take into account control variables as well as data that span time periods.In this study, we examine monthly data collected from eight hospitals over a recent three-year time period. We specify propositions that relate investments in IT to performance, and the combined effect of technology and BPR on performance. We draw upon the literature in health-care management to incorporate appropriate control variables in the analyses. Our results provide support for the IT—performance relationship that is observed after certain time lags. Such a relationship may not be evident in cross-sectional or snapshot data analyses. Also, results indicate support for the impact of technology contingent on BPR practiced by hospitals.

Researchers and practitioners alike have taken note of the potential value of an organization's IT infrastructure. IT infrastructure expenditures account for over 58 percent of an organization's IT budget and the percentage is growing at 11 percent a year. Some even have called IT infrastructure the new competitive weapon and see it as being crucial in developing a sustained competitive advantage. Unique characteristics of an IT infrastructure determine the value of that infrastructure to an organization. One characteristic, IT infrastructure flexibility, has captured the attention of researchers and practitioners. In fact, in most recent surveys featuring issues of most importance to IT executives, the development of a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure and related topics are always at or near the top of the responses. Although the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility has been established, the development of a valid, reliable instrument to measure this construct has not been reported in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to better define the IT infrastructure flexibility construct and to develop a valid, reliable measurement instrument for this construct. In addition to the definition and operationalization of the IT infrastructure flexibility construct, this study explores the instrument's predictive validity with possible antecedent and consequent variables.

Although tacit knowledge constitutes the major part of what we know, it is difficult for organizations to fully benefit from this valuable asset. This is because tacit knowledge is inherently elusive, and in order to capture, store, and disseminate it, it is argued that it first has to be made explicit. However, such a process is difficult, and often fails due to three reasons: (1) we are not necessarily aware of our tacit knowledge, (2) on a personal level, we do not need to make it explicit in order to use it, and (3) we may not want to give up a valuable competitive advantage. During an empirical study of recommender system usage, it was noticed how such technology could be used to circumvent these problems, and make tacit knowledge, in the form of our professional interests, available to the organization as a whole. Using Polanyi's theories, it will be shown how intranet documents can be used to make tacit knowledge tangible without becoming explicit, suggesting that tacitly expressed entities are not necessarily beyond the reach of information technology.