Australian Computer Society: ACS Digital Library
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Enablers of Open Source Software adoption: A case study of APS organisations
Get PDFDespite a considerable body of literature investigating factors involved in the Open Source Software (OSS) adoption process, there is little research into adoption of OSS by public sector organisations. So it was important to reassess the factors enabling OSS adoption in order to enhance OSS utilization within public sector organisations. This study explored various factors that may enable OSS adoption within Australian Public Sector (APS) organisations by interviewing those involved in software procurement. The findings were analysed through the lenses of technology adoption theories (i.e, Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)), and OSS adoption literature. Success of OSS in government agencies was found to be contingent on critical aspects such as availability of support and maintainability of OSS products, ability to meet organisational business needs in a cost effective manner, economic value associated with OSS such as maintenance and training costs, and attitude of staff toward OSS. The findings suggested that Rogers’ relative advantage and compatibility constructs are major enablers while organisational attributes, environmental attributes, and TAM’s attributes also had some influence on OSS adoption
Antecedents of Sustainable Management Support for IT-Related Initiatives
Get PDFHaving IT-related capabilities is not enough to secure value from the IT resources and survive in today’s competitive environment. IT resources evolve dynamically and organisations must sustain their existing capabilities to continue to leverage value from their IT resources. Organisations’ IT-related management capabilities are an important source of their competitive advantage. Organisations can sustain these capabilities through appropriate considerations of resources at the technology-use level. This study suggests that an appropriate organisational design relating to decision rights and work environment, and a congruent reward system can create a dynamic end-user environment. This environment will be a vital source of knowledge that could help organisations to sustain their IT-related management capabilities. Analysis of data collected from a field survey demonstrates that a dynamic end-user environment, a result of a coordinated change in complementary factors, helps organisations to sustain their IT-related management capabilities. This study adds an important dimension to understanding why some organisations continue to perform better with their IT resources than others. For practice, this study suggests that organisations need to consider a comprehensive approach to what constitutes their valuable organisational resources
From Action Research to Practice Research
Get PDFAction research (AR) has gained more acceptance as an approach to qualitative research in information systems (IS). The complexities of organisational and technical change makes this approach a suitable one in IS research. There are, however, still some controversies and confusions about the relation between “action” and “research”. The many types of AR and similar approaches (not labelled as AR) that have emerged demands further conceptual clarification of AR. A conceptual inquiry of AR, presented in the paper, has led to the identification of several unresolved issues concerning intervention research like AR. An alternative research approach is presented: practice research. This research approach is well founded in pragmatism and it builds on the two premises: 1) to contribute to general practice through abstract and useful knowledge and 2) to study the empirical field as interconnected practices. Several important concepts of practice research are described as: local practice contribution vs. general practice contribution; theorizing vs. situational inquiry. Practice research is seen as a broader notion encompassing AR and other research approaches as e.g. design research and evaluation research. Two case examples of practice research are briefly presented and compared: one AR-based study in the social welfare sector and one evaluation study of a taxation e-service
Storytelling as a Qualitative Method for IS Research: Heralding the Heroic and Echoing the Mythic
Get PDFStorytelling in organizations has long been overlooked (and sometimes derided) as a qualitative research method. However, we propose the use of storytelling as a powerful approach for information systems (IS) researchers. We conceptualize stories within the framework of the social construction of technology, using an interpretivist perspective. Each story serves an intended purpose, which corresponds to the functions of classical myths. We recommend that researchers characterize stories as performing one of four functions we classified as the experiential, explanatory, validating, or prescriptive identified. We emphasize complete stories, rather than narrative fragments. Stories possess many common elements. We provide caveats and limitations to the use of storytelling as a qualitative research method. We reveal the usefulness of storytelling for IS researchers as distinct from other favored qualitative methods such as interviewing, metaphors, observation, and the use of analysis software packages
A multi-dimensional framework to assist in the design of successful shared services centres
Get PDFOrganisations are increasingly looking to realise the benefits of shared services yet there is little guidance available as to the best way to proceed. A multi-dimensional framework is presented that considers the service provided, the design of the shared services centre and the organisational context it sits within. Case studies are then used to determine what specific attributes from each dimension are associated with success and how they should be aligned. It is concluded that there appears to be a single, broadly standard pattern of attributes for successful Shared Services Centres (SSCs) across the proposed dimensions of Activity, Environment, History, Resources, Strategy, Structure, Management, Technology and Individual Skills. It should also be noted though that some deviation from the identified standard along some dimensions is possible without adverse effect – ie that the alignment identified appears to be relatively soft
Australian Online Public Information Systems:An Evaluative Study of an Evolving Public Health Website
No full textRapid developments in ICT are extending and transforming the ways public services are delivered to citizens. The area of public healthcare has always been viewed as particularly as information intensive. This phenomenon is made more complex by rapid changes and continual increases in technological capability as well as increasing demands for new functions by users. Therefore, when conducting research in this area it is essential to take a holistic approach that integrates the latest ICT tools and processes with the needs of individuals. Q methodology is a research design that provides a foundation for the systematic study of subjectivity. The use of Q in the dynamic health context, we propose, is appropriate as a way of fostering deeper understandings of online public health phenomena.
This paper reports on the results of a subjective study of the usefulness and usability of online public health information systems. The study used Q-methodology to investigate the perceptions of an Australian palliative care website with a group of available potential users of the website, which was composed of medical practitioners and students, and the general public, mostly from the computer-literate academic community. The most significant finding of this subjective study of internet-literate participants’ perceptions towards online palliative care is the recognition of four groups: interactive, superficial, medical and service
Generalization in Qualitative IS Research - Approaches and their Application to a Case Study on SOA Development
Get PDFIn qualitative information systems research little methodological support has been provided so far for the generalization of data. Generalizability, however, is a major concern in this field. It has been subject to a number of publications in recent years but commonly accepted frameworks of generalizability and methodological guidance are still missing. In order to address these problems, this paper investigates if and how abstraction mechanisms from the field of conceptual modeling can be used to generalize empirical data. An explorative single case study on the development of service-oriented architectures provides the raw data for an exemplary application. Abstraction mechanisms are used to generalize observations from the case study and to transform them into hypotheses. Finally, another abstraction leads to three models illustrating relationships of certain concepts and abstract categories as a major result of this case study. The paper shows that abstraction mechanisms from the field of conceptual modeling can be used for the generalization of case study data and provides guidance on how to use these mechanisms
Collaborative ethnography for information systems research Studying knowledge work practices and designing supportive information systems
Get PDFUnderstanding knowledge work and supporting it with information systems (ISs) are challenging tasks. Knowledge work has changed substantially recently and studies on how knowledge work is currently performed are scarce. Ethnography is the most suitable qualitative research method for studying knowledge work, yet too time-consuming, costly and unfocused for the fast changing IS domain. Moreover, results from qualitative studies need to be transformed into artefacts useful for IS requirements engineering and design. This paper proposes a procedure for collaborative ethnography to study knowledge work practices and inform IS requirements gathering and design illustrated with the case of a collaborative ethnographic study of seven organisations in four European countries performed in a large-scale international IS research and development project. The paper also critically discusses the procedure’s applicability and limitations
A Model of Project and Organisational Dynamics
Get PDFThe strategic, transformational nature of many information systems projects is now widely understood. Large-scale implementations of systems are known to require significant management of organisational change in order to be successful. Moreover, projects are rarely executed in isolation – most organisations have a large programme of projects being implemented at any one time. However, project and value management methodologies provide ad hoc definitions of the relationship between a project and its environment. This limits the ability of an organisation to manage the larger dynamics between projects and organisations, over time, and between projects. The contribution of this paper, therefore, is to use literature on organisational theory to provide a more systematic understanding of this area. The organisational facilitators required to obtain value from a project are categorised, and the processes required to develop those facilitators are defined. This formalisation facilitates generalisation between projects and highlights any time and path dependencies required in developing organisational facilitators. The model therefore has the potential to contribute to the development of IS project management theory within dynamic organisational contexts. Six cases illustrate how this model could be used
Qualitative Methods in IS/IT Research: Issues, Contributions and Challenges ? Forward
No full textIn this special issue, we adopt Van Maanen's (1979: 520) definition of qualitative research as an umbrella term to cover an “array of interpretive techniques that can describe, decode, translate, and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world”