Making choices: developing digital research frameworks for information management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a digital research framework that can be applied to many of the areas that encompass the discipline of information management.

Design/methodology/approach

This communication proposes a new “Triple A” framework that allows the researcher to progress digital ideas by asking a series of staged questions. This is a progressive model consisting of three stages of acquaintance, adaption and application bounded by three major influencing issues of culture, communication and context. The Triple A framework is aimed to be flexible to apply to most styles of research yet robust enough to offer useful insights.

Findings

The model devised will assist (information management) researchers with choices of research approaches. It may be that early career researchers or those undertaking a postgraduate research will find this framework especially helpful to clarify thoughts and direction. The model aims to be useful and, whilst no doubt will be built on in future research, it is offered as foundation, an initial starting point, as those who work and study in information management fields endeavor to make new choices in our digitally managed information world.

Originality/value

The originality and value of this work is the proposition of a new model that will allow researchers to impose structure on ideas and encourage the viewing of work from a multi-disciplinary perspective within the growing and evolving digital areas.

Digitalization as institutional work: a case of designing a tool for changing diabetes care

Purpose

E-health tools for patients aim to change current care practices. However the role of IT in transforming health care is not straightforward. The purpose of this paper is to understand how this change process unfolds and what characterizes the process by which visions of new care practices become inscribed into digital tools.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a qualitative research design and it is based on an interpretive case study on the digitalization of a tool for diabetes care used in a hospital in Norway. Data have been collected via interviews and observations. Digitalization activities are understood as institutional work in order to examine the relation between the decisions taken in the design process and the intended change of the practices of diabetes care.

Findings

The study identifies three types of activities of institutional work: inscription of self-reflection, inscription of legitimation and inscription of new usage. The analysis of these activities shows how the vision of patients’ more active, learning and reflection-oriented role is inscribed into digital technology; how institutional work strives both for change and for legitimation thus smoothing the transition to a new institutional arrangement; and how institutional work relates to digital materiality.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the institutional theory literature by conceptualizing digitalization as institutional work toward changing institutions. It also contributes to the IS literature on digitalization by providing an analysis of how the affordances of digital materials support the work toward new institutions.

Smart work

Purpose

This paper explores smart work (SW), a work practice characterized by spatial and temporal flexibility, supported by technological tools, and that provides all employees of an organization with the best working conditions to accomplish their tasks. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to identify whether firms adopt different SW models, explore complementarities between the factors that can lead to choose a SW model, and figure out whether contingent variables matters in the implementation of a particular SW model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on: a survey delivered in 2013 to 100 Human Resources directors of medium and large Italian organizations to collect preliminary evidence on SW; and four embedded case studies based on 49 semi-structured interviews to better explain the findings achieved in the quantitative analysis.

Findings

Four SW models can be chosen by companies. They are named inconsistent, analogical, digital and complete SW. They are different according to investments in the enabling digital technologies, in trans-formations of the organizational policies and in workspace settings, according the contingent conditions where firms operate. Results show that there are complementarities between the elements that characterize a SW model and that at least two elements are developed in each SW model. In case all the three elements are developed, companies achieve higher labour productivity.

Originality/value

The paper unpacks the elements that can generate SW environments by deepening the complementarities that can be exploited among information and communication technologies, work place and work practice innovation, and by evaluating their development on employees’ performance.

Healthcare in the age of open innovation – A literature review

Background:

In spite of an increased interest in open innovation and strategies that call for an increased collaboration between different healthcare actors, there is a lack of open innovation research in public contexts.

Objective:

This article presents the results of a review regarding the healthcare sector’s engagement in open innovation as well as constraining factors and positive outcomes of open innovation in healthcare.

Method:

The literature search focused on papers published in English between 2003 and 2014. Based on specified inclusion criteria, 18 articles were included.

Results:

Results reveal that most studies focus on inbound open innovation where external knowledge is integrated with the internal knowledge base at an initial phase of the innovation process. Innovation primarily results in products and services through innovation networks. We also identified constraining factors for open innovation in healthcare, including the complex organizations of healthcare, the need to establish routines for capturing knowledge from patients and clinicians, regulations and healthcare data laws as well as the positive outcome patient empowerment.

Conclusion:

The healthcare sector’s engagement in open innovation is limited, and it is necessary to perform further research with a focus on how open innovation can be managed in healthcare.

E-Leadership through Strategic Alignment: An Empirical Study of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Digital Age

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the European economy. A critical challenge faced by SME leaders, as a consequence of the continuing digital technology revolution, is how to optimally align business strategy with digital technology to fully leverage the potential offered by these technologies in pursuit of longevity and growth. There is a paucity of empirical research examining how e-leadership in SMEs drives successful alignment between business strategy and digital technology fostering longevity and growth. To address this gap, in this paper we develop an empirically derived e-leadership model. Initially we develop a theoretical model of e-leadership drawing on strategic alignment theory. This provides a theoretical foundation on how SMEs can harness digital technology in support of their business strategy enabling sustainable growth. An in-depth empirical study was undertaken interviewing 42 successful European SME leaders to validate, advance and substantiate our theoretically driven model. The outcome of the two stage process – inductive development of a theoretically driven e-leadership model and deductive advancement to develop a complete model through in-depth interviews with successful European SME leaders – is an e-leadership model with specific constructs fostering effective strategic alignment. The resulting diagnostic model enables SME decision makers to exercise effective e-leadership by creating productive alignment between business strategy and digital technology improving longevity and growth prospects.

ERP as an organizational innovation: key users and cross-boundary knowledge management

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide more insight in the ways key users act as knowledge managers and boundary spanners during the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system usage phase. Despite the recognized importance of key users during the implementation phase of an ERP system, little is known about their role in the ERP usage phase.

Design/methodology/approach

To provide rich insight in the boundary-spanning mechanisms utilized by key users to share knowledge, a qualitative approach was applied. In this study, “abductive” theme coding for 58 interviews with key users, end-users and managers has been used. This paper found six mechanisms and characterized them as “crossing” structural, social or cognitive boundaries.

Findings

Six boundary-spanning mechanisms have been distinguished which have been applied by key users to overcome several knowledge management issues. Subsequently, these mechanisms lead to a model which describes three different roles that key users may fulfill to efficiently share and transfer knowledge during the ERP usage phase.

Research limitations/implications

Knowledge barriers during an ERP implementation and their accompanying six boundary-crossing mechanisms have been distinguished.

Practical implications

The recognition of the essential role that key users can fulfill during the usage phase of an ERP system is an important implication. Management has to take into account that tasks and responsibilities of key users have to be clear from the start and they may cautiously select employees who are suited to become key users.

Originality/value

The main contribution is the importance of the impact of key users on the effectivity of knowledge management during the ERP usage phase.

A Design Theory for Digital Platforms Supporting Online Communities: A Multiple Case Study

This research proposes and validates a design theory for digital platforms that support online communities (DPsOC). It addresses ways in which digital platforms can effectively support social interactions in online communities. Drawing upon prior literature on IS design theory, online communities, and platforms, we derive an initial set of propositions for designing effective DPsOC. Our overarching proposition is that three components of digital platform architecture (core, interface, and complements) should collectively support the mix of the three distinct types of social interaction structures of online community (information sharing, collaboration, and collective action). We validate the initial propositions and generate additional insights by conducting an in-depth analysis of an European digital platform for elderly care assistance. We further validate the propositions by analyzing three widely used digital platforms, including Twitter, Wikipedia, and Liquidfeedback, and we derive additional propositions and insights that can guide DPsOC design. We discuss the implications of this research for research and practice.

A Paradigmatic Analysis of Digital Application Marketplaces

This paper offers a paradigmatic analysis of digital application marketplaces for advancing information systems research on digital platforms and ecosystems. We refer to the notion of digital application marketplace, colloquially called ‘appstores,’ as a platform component that offers a venue for exchanging applications between developers and end users belonging to a single or multiple ecosystems. Such marketplaces exhibit diversity in features and assumptions, and we propose that examining this diversity, and its ideal types, will help us to further understand the relationship between application marketplaces, platforms, and platform ecosystems. To this end, we generate a typology that distinguishes four kinds of digital application marketplaces: closed, censored, focused, and open marketplaces. The paper also offers implications for actors wishing to make informed decisions about their relationship to a particular digital application marketplace.

Value Appropriation between the Platform Provider and App Developers in Mobile Platform Mediated Networks

The mobile ecosystem has recently experienced a transition in platform leadership from network operators to mobile operating system providers. In each system the platform provider exerts effort in order to attract other firms for generativity and profitability. In this paper, we identify and analyze the working mechanism of one business practice that significantly influences the ecosystem's generativity and platform provider's profitability via value appropriation. Revenue sharing has become a common practice in the mobile ecosystem following NTT DoCoMo's radical revenue-sharing model contributing toward mobile service success in Japan. Studies further argue that offering a wide portfolio of services through an attractive or innovative revenue-sharing model is one of key success factors in the mobile ecosystem. However, app developers have continuously claimed that they do not receive their fair share and the press reports a substantial number of disputes concerning revenue sharing between the platform provider and app developers. We propose a new bargaining model, the modified apex game, that investigates how value is likely to be appropriated between the platform provider and app developers within a given mobile platform mediated network. We support our theoretical predictions using data collected from the early mobile ecosystem by a network operator as well as the iOS and Android mediated networks.

Resource-based co-innovation through platform ecosystem: experiences of mobile payment innovation in China

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to introduce the RISE model on service innovation in coopetitive business environment. The case study illustrates why and how Chinese providers utilize ecosystems for innovative mobile payment service development to achieve coopetitive advantage based on firms’ superior resources.

Design/methodology/approach

– The companies in the case study include Alipay (third-party actor), Bestpay (mobile operator), and UnionPay (banking). Empirical data comes from semi-structured interviews complemented with observations and documents. The analysis of the data follows grounded theory guidelines: creation of a theoretical framework, data collection, and interpretation of the data using the coding strategies of open coding, axial coding, and selected coding.

Findings

– Inter-organizational co-innovation appears as a successful strategy for mobile payment service innovation. In addition to strategic choice on this, understanding of superior and inferior resources and capabilities influence firms’ coopetitive advantages in a coopetitive service development environment. Ecosystems are formed along with the innovating activities, and difficulties are caused by coopetition challenges. The RISE model enables the analysis and selection of strategic patterns for service innovation in a coopetitive environment.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to resource-advantage theory and platform ecosystem theory. The theories are used to analyze and model the effects of strategy execution for achieving win-win relationships in inter-organizational co-innovation. This paper helps executives to match their service innovation strategies to platform ecosystem architectures, as well as to understand how resource-advantage challenges affect the execution strategy of setting up their platform ecosystems.

The story of the sixth myth of open data and open government

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to describe a local government effort to realise an open government agenda. This is done using a storytelling approach.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical data are based on a case study. The authors participated in, as well as followed, the process of realising an open government agenda on a local level, where citizens were invited to use open public data as the basis for developing apps and external Web solutions. Based on an interpretative tradition, they chose storytelling as a way to scrutinise the competition process. In this paper, they present a story about the competition process using the story elements put forward by Kendall and Kendall (2012).

Findings

– The research builds on existing research by proposing the myth that the “public” wants to make use of open data. The authors provide empirical insights into the challenge of gaining benefits from open public data. In particular, they illustrate the difficulties in getting citizens interested in using open public data. Their case shows that people seem to like the idea of open public data, but do not necessarily participate actively in the data reuse process.

Research limitations/implications

– The results are based on one empirical study. Further research is, therefore, needed. The authors would especially welcome more studies that focus on citizens’ interest and willingness to reuse open public data.

Practical implications

– This study illustrates the difficulties of promoting the reuse of open public data. Public organisations that want to pursue an open government agenda can use these findings as empirical insights.

Originality/value

– This paper answers the call for more empirical studies on public open data. Furthermore, it problematises the “myth” of public interest in the reuse of open public data.

Routines, Artefacts and Technological Change: Investigating the Transformation of Criminal Justice in England and Wales

Organisational routines embed and are increasingly embedded within IT artefacts. In this paper, I challenge the conventional notion that warrants the primacy of human activities in the study of routines and bring artefacts in general and IT artefacts in particular to the very centre of my theorising. Through an in-depth case study of crown prosecutors’ work, I endeavour to explain the way legislative and IT artefacts are implicated in the transformation of police-prosecutor routines. I show that legislative artefacts play a constitutive role that generates a new role position and a new system of social practices while IT artefacts serve a regulative function that enforces a newly programmed sequence of steps onto pre-existing practices. I argue for the benefits of foregrounding legislative and IT artefacts to develop a nuanced account of organisational routines that responds to recent calls for research that contextualises the IT artefact outside single settings. I draw on the Transformational Model of Social Activity to unpack the causal linkages between legislative and IT artefacts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Developing a Relational View of the Organizing Role of Objects: A study of the innovation process in computer games

Innovation processes create distinctive challenges for coordination. Objects are seen as supporting coordination in such settings by enabling the emergent action needed to deal with a dynamic and uncertain process. Thus, previous work has highlighted the role of different types of objects in coordinating the collaborative tasks undertaken by expert groups, either by motivating the creation of new knowledge or through the translation of understanding. Through an empirical study of innovation processes in the computer games sector, our paper adds to this previous work by finding that the relations between objects, and not the objects alone, help to orchestrate multiple collaborative tasks towards a final outcome within temporal and resource constraints. The relational view which emerges from this study shows how such a ‘system of objects’ is able to stabilize coordination of the process while preserving the emergence and autonomy of games developer practices needed to achieve innovation.

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

Inspired by Herbert Simon's notion of nearly decomposable systems, researchers have examined modularity as a powerful approach to manage technological change in product innovation. We articulate this approach as the hierarchy-of-parts architecture and explain how it emphasizes decomposition of a design into loosely coupled parts and subsequent aggregation of these into an industrial product. To realize the scale benefits of modularity, firms successively freeze design specifications before production and therefore only allow limited windows of functionality design and redesign. This makes it difficult to take advantage of the increased speed by which digitized products can be developed and modified. To address this problem, we draw on Christopher Alexander's notion of design patterns to introduce a complementary approach to manage technological change that is resilient to digital technology. We articulate this approach as the network-of-patterns architecture and explain how it emphasizes generalization of ideas into patterns and subsequent specialization of patterns for different design purposes. In response to the increased digitization of industrial products, we demonstrate the value of complementing hierarchy-of-parts thinking with network-of-patterns thinking through a case study of infotainment architecture at an automaker. As a result, we contribute to the literature on managing products in the digital age: we highlight the properties of digital technology that increase the speed by which digitized products can be redesigned; we offer the notion of architectural frames and propose hierarchy-of-parts and network-of-patterns as frames to support innovation of digitized products; and, we outline an agenda for future research that reconsiders the work of Simon and Alexander as well as their followers to address key challenges in innovating digitized products.

Everything Counts in Large Amounts: A Critical Realist Case Study on Data-Based Production

Contemporary digital ecosystems produce vast amounts of data every day. The data are often no more than microscopic log entries generated by the elements of an information infrastructure or system. Although such records may represent a variety of things outside the system, their powers go beyond the capacity to carry semantic content. In this article, we harness critical realism to explain how such data come to matter in specific business operations. We analyse the production of an advertising audience from data tokens extracted from a telecommunications network. The research is based on an intensive case study of a mobile network operator that tries to turn its subscribers into an advertising audience. We identify three mechanisms that shape data-based production and three properties that characterize the underlying pool of data. The findings advance the understanding of many organizational settings that are centred on data processing.

Capability Search and Redeem across Digital Ecosystems

Prior research on digital ecosystems focuses on the focal firm (e.g., a platform owner) and its ecosystem governance. However, there is a dearth of literature examining the non-focal actor, that is, an ecosystem participant who is at the periphery of a digital ecosystem. This paper proposes a theoretical perspective of the non-focal firm's participation across digital ecosystems for cultivating its innovation habitat through capability search and redeem. Capability search involves the location of external capability deemed valuable for extending the firm's innovation habitat. Capability redeem refers to the firm's use of external capability to develop, distribute, and/or monetize its products and services. We generate and sensitize the proposed perspective in the context of Sony Ericsson's innovation habitat by interpreting the mobile device manufacturer's participation across four digital ecosystems (Visual Basic, Java, Digital Music, and Android). Our findings suggest that the non-focal actor cannot rely on a single ecosystem for addressing all relevant layers of innovation. It benefits from pursuing a pluralistic strategy, operating across digital ecosystems to avoid investing all efforts in the same ecosystem. The model of ecosystem capability search and redeem, which is a result of ideographic research explanation, extends current perspectives on digital ecosystems and contributes to the emerging literature in the digital age.

Desperately seeking structures

Research grounded in a social science tradition tends to focus on people, while research grounded in an engineering tradition tends to focus on artifacts. However, as people and artifacts become increasingly intertwined in digitized processes and practices, these traditional disciplinary divisions sometimes seem a little outdated. So in this essay, I advocate an approach to research on information systems that focuses on actions, rather than people or artifacts. In particular, I examine the possibility of treating patterns of action as the object of inquiry. Grammatical models can be used to represent the space of possible action patterns in a given domain, and can be used to compare, and analyze the structural properties of action patterns. If so desired, these patterns can be tied back to traditional factors related to people (such as culture, habit, or learning?) or technology (such as features, constraints, or affordances?).