An empirical evaluation of existing IS change theories for the case of IOIS evolution

Abstract

The phenomenon of inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) evolution has not yet been adequately researched and understood. We present and analyse empirical data from a case in which electronic ordering in the Australian pharmaceutical industry evolved over a 30-year period from closed to quasi-open systems. We analyse this revelatory case using a practice-theoretical framework to make visible the phenomenon of IOIS evolution. An essential characteristic of this framework is the distinction between and symmetrical treatment of material, normative and ideational structures within the practices that constitute the IOIS. Against the findings of this case study, we then evaluate two promising models of long-term IS change, namely Porra's (1999) Colonial Systems model and Lyytinen and Newman's (2008) Punctuated Socio-technical IS Change model. These models are selected as highly elaborated IS exemplars of two classes of theories of organizational change, namely evolutionary and dialectical theories. We find that these two models can only partially explain our findings. Finally, we make suggestions for developing more comprehensive theoretical models within these two classes of IS change theories. In practical terms, our paper shows that the transformation from closed to open IOIS may require adoption of longer time frames than are usually assumed and closer attention to norms and rationales usually neglected in IS projects.

Keywords:

• inter-organizational information systems (IOIS)
• systems evolution
• long-term IS change
• Colonial Systems model
• Punctuated Socio-technical IS Change model
• practice theory

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their engaged, thoughtful, and careful support through five revisions. The first and the last author would like to acknowledge support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant number 1328/2-2).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kai Reimers

About the authors

Kai Reimers is Professor of Information Systems at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He earned a doctorate in economics from Wuppertal University and a venia legendi at Bremen University. From September 1998 to August 2003, he worked as a Visiting Professor at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). His main fields of research are inter-organizational information systems, IT standardization, and management of large information systems.

Robert B Johnston

Robert Johnston is Professor of Information and Organisation at University College Dublin. His main research areas are electronic commerce, supply chain management, inter-organisational information systems, and theoretical foundations of IS. He has 140 refereed publications, many in leading international journals, including Information Systems Research, Management Science, European Journal of Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Electronic Markets, Journal of Stategic Information Systems, and Supply Chain Management. Before becoming an academic he spent 13 years as an IT practitioner.

Stefan Klein

Stefan Klein is Professor of Interorganizational Systems at the University of Münster. Previously, he held positions at University College Dublin, Ireland; University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany; and University St. Gallen, Switzerland. His current research areas are information infrastructures, network economy, information management, and the transformation of work. He studies practices of technology use and organizational transformation from an individual to an industry level. He has published widely and is a member of the editorial board of several international IS journals.