A Holistic Narrative of Culture's Mediation of Information Systems Innovation: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Abstract

In-depth qualitative research on the mediating effect of culture on the IS innovation processes has proven useful in describing and explaining the social transformations that enable or inhibit innovations success. The diversity of this research stream, however insightful, has resulted in a cloudy narrative of culture's mediating effect on IS innovation that limit the utility of the findings. This article provides a “larger narrative ” of culture's mediating effect on IS innovation by preserving, through a qualitative meta-synthesis, the rich metaphors and concepts that define these studies. The synthesis provides a holistic interpretation of culture's mediation of IS innovation through a more general explanation of the transformational process that occurs in an organization during IS innovation that produces culturally mediated responses.

Keywords:

• Meta-synthesis
• Culture
• IS innovation
• Interpretive
• Information Technology
• Meta-ethnography

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carl Lawrence

Carl Lawrence is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oulu in the field of information systems. He has over 12 years of experience in corporate IT management, project management and systems analysis. His research interests include cross-cultural IS innovation, cultural analytics, and innovation systems.