[AISWorld] JAIS 2014 Volume 15, Issue 12 (December) Contents

[JAIS]

Contents of Volume 15, Issue 12 (December) Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), Official Publication of the Association for Information Systems

Published: Monthly Electronically
ISSN: 1536-9323
Published by the Association for Information Systems, Atlanta, USA (http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/)


Editor-in-Chief:  Professor Suprateek Sarker, University of Virginia, USA




PAPER ONE
The Development of Social Capital in the Collaboration Network of Information Systems Scholars


Jennifer Xu, Bentley University

Michael Chau, The University of Hong Kong

Bernard C. Y. Tan, National University of Singapore



Abstract

This study examines the development of social capital in the collaboration network of information systems (IS) scholars over a 33-year period (from 1980 to 2012). Using the co-authorship data from six premier journals (MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of MIS, Journal of the AIS, European Journal of Information Systems, and Information Systems Journal), we analyze the historical trajectory of five aspects of the field's structural social capital: network ties, network configuration, structural holes, growth, and structural cohesion. Our results show that, as a scientific field, the IS community has made significant progress in accumulating social capital. The current IS collaboration network is also comparable in several aspects with networks found in other business disciplines (e.g., management, finance, and marketing). Our study has several important implications for the focus-versus-diversity debate in the IS field. Based on our findings, we offer some recommendations as to how the IS community can increase the field's social capital, and thereby facilitate knowledge creation and innovation.



To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:

http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol15/iss12/3/



PAPER TWO

Advocating for Action Design Research on IT Value Creation in Healthcare


Susan A Sherer, Lehigh University



ABSTRACT

Today there is mixed evidence that health IT decreases costs and/or improves care quality in the US. Some of the same factors that have driven delays in realizing the benefits from IT investments in other industries (i.e., time consuming process changes) are apparent in the U.S. healthcare industry, which is only now digitizing its fundamental patient data, the electronic health record. The healthcare industry itself is in transition and new IT may not provide full benefit unless it is accompanied with a restructuring of healthcare delivery. Traditional ex post approaches to measuring IT value will limit the ability of healthcare IT value researchers to add value to practice now especially as government incentives in the US drive significant investment. But generalizing results from traditional IT value research to the healthcare setting is risky due to differences between healthcare and other industries. I advocate for action design research that uses existing theory as a foundation, but adapts it to the specific unique characteristics of this industry. By actively participating in the design and evaluation of new socio-technical systems, IT value researchers can generate grounded theory to explain value creation in healthcare while influencing practice now.



To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol15/iss12/2/



PAPER THREE

The Dynamics of IT Project Status Reporting: A Self-Reinforcing Cycle of Distrust



Mark Keil, Georgia State University

H. Jeff Smith, Miami University

Charalambos L. Iacovou, Wake Forest University

Ronald L. Thompson, Wake Forest University



ABSTRACT

Accurate project status reporting is important to avoid the problem of information technology (IT) project escalation and to successfully manage and deliver IT projects. One approach that some organizations have taken is to audit their IT projects to avoid surprises that are frequently associated with inaccurate status reporting. Little is known, however, about the effects that such auditing arrangements can have on the dynamics of project status reporting. To examine the process of IT project status reporting in this context, we followed a grounded theory inspired approach in which we investigated nine IT projects in one U.S. state's government agencies. All of the projects we studied were subject to the state's IT oversight board. Based on 118 interviews with a variety of stakeholders including technical personnel, managers, users, and contractors, we present a grounded theory of project status reporting dynamics in which the reporting process can best be characterized as a self-reinforcing cycle of distrust between the project team and the auditors. Specifically, in some projects, we observed a pattern whereby project teams interpreted the auditor's scrutiny as unfair and as not adding value to their projects. As a result, they responded by embracing some defensive reporting tactics. The auditors interpreted the project team's actions as indicating either deception or incompetence, and they then increased their scrutiny of the reports, thus exacerbating the situation and further fuelling the cycle of distrust. We discuss implications for both theory and practice.



To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol15/iss12/1/


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