TY - JOUR A1 - Klotz, Stefan A1 - Kratzer, Simon A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Strahringer, Susanne T1 - Literary Sketches in Information Systems Research: Conceptualization and Guidance for Using Vignettes as a Narrative Form JF - Information Systems Management N2 - This paper analyzes the usage of vignettes as a narrative form in information systems (IS) research. A review of 48 papers from IS top journals with 119 vignettes exposes the versatile usage of vignettes as a narrative form and shows their usefulness in research communication. The paper conceptualizes vignette usage through a taxonomy and archetypes. To support the future dissemination of this useful narrative technique, it further derives recommendations and guidance for scholars. KW - vignette KW - taxonomy KW - archetype KW - vignette study Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/10580530.2021.1996661 SN - 1934-8703 VL - 39 IS - 4 SP - 345 EP - 362 PB - Taylor&Francis ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - von Bary, Benedikt A1 - Strahringer, Susanne T1 - Do Researchers Investigate what Practitioners Deem Relevant? Gaps Between Research and Practice in the Field of Information Systems Backsourcing T2 - 20th IEEE International Conference on Business Informatics (CBI) N2 - There is a common understanding amongst academics that information systems (IS) research sometimes has limited relevance for practitioners. This can be explained by the fact that research lags behind the fast moving IS environment, has limited practical applicability and is hard to access. We have focused on the research area of IS backsourcing, and analyzed practitioner literature to increase our understanding of topics of interest for practitioners, to determine a potential gap between academic and practitioner literature, and to identify future research directions in this field. We observed that most publications are either news or background articles, focusing on describing backsourcing cases. Additionally, we identified four recurring themes, namely reasons for backsourcing, presentation of survey results, discussion of industry trends, and backsourcing success stories. The main reasons identified to trigger backsourcing decisions are cost savings, quality improvements, and increasing control and flexibility. By comparing our findings with academic literature on IS backsourcing, we conclude that generally both literature types cover similar topics. However, researchers have a more formulative or interpretive focus than the often descriptive practitioner literature. Academic literature also examines a broader range of topics, while practitioner literature has a narrower focus. Additionally, we observe one difference regarding applied terminology: while researchers employ the term backsourcing, practitioners mostly use back in-house or insourcing. Our paper contributes to facilitating the exchange between academics and practitioners, presents topics to consider when aiming to increase practical relevance and provides researchers with concrete directions for future research within the field of IS backsourcing. KW - business data processing KW - globalisation KW - information systems KW - outsourcing Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/CBI.2018.00014 SP - 40 EP - 49 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kopper, Andreas A1 - Furstenau, Daniel A1 - Zimmermann, Stephan A1 - Rentrop, Christopher A1 - Rothe, Hannes A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - Business-managed IT: A conceptual framework and empirical illustration T2 - 26. European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2018), Protsmouth, UK N2 - Research on Shadow IT is facing a conceptual dilemma in cases where previously “covert” systems developed by business entities (individual users, business workgroups, or business units) are integrated in the organizational IT management. These systems become visible, are therefore not “in the shadows” anymore, and subsequently do not fit to existing definitions of Shadow IT. Practice shows that some information systems share characteristics of Shadow IT, but are created openly in alignment with the IT department. This paper therefore proposes the term “Business- managed IT” to describe “overt” information systems developed or managed by business entities. We distinguish Business- managed IT from Shadow IT by illustrating case vignettes. Accordingly, our contribution is to suggest a concept and its delineation against other concepts. In this way, IS researchers interested in IT originated from or maintained by business entities can construct theories with a wider scope of application that are at the same time more specific to practical problems. In addition, value-laden terminology is complemented by a vocabulary that values potentially innovative developments by business entities more adequately. From a practical point of view, the distinction can be used to discuss the distribution of task responsibilities for information systems. KW - Business-managed IT KW - IT Governance. KW - Shadow IT Y1 - 2018 UR - https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2018_rp/77/ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Kratzer, Simon A1 - Drechsler, Andreas A1 - Strahringer, Susanne T1 - The Fractional CIO in SMEs: conceptualization and research agenda JF - Information Systems and e-Business Management N2 - We conceptualize the new phenomenon of the Fractional Chief InformationOfficer (CIO) as a part-time executive who usually works for more than one pri-marily small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) and develop promising avenuesfor future research on Fractional CIOs. We conduct an empirical study by drawingon semi-structured interviews with 40 individuals from 10 different countries whooccupy a Fractional CIO role. We derive a definition for the Fractional CIO, dis-tinguish it from other forms of employment, and compare it with existing researchon CIO roles. Further, we find four salient engagement types of Fractional CIOsoffering value for SMEs in various situations: Strategic IT management, Restruc-turing, Rapid scaling, and Hands-on support. The results reveal similarities withexisting CIO roles as well as novel insights concerning the different engagementtypes. Lastly, we propose a research agenda for the Fractional CIO field, based onfour research themes derived from existing CIO research and insights from theinterviews. KW - Fractional CIO KW - Virtual CIO KW - IT leadership KW - Part-time management KW - SMEs KW - Small businesses KW - Interim management Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-022-00557-4 VL - 20 SP - 581 EP - 611 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brosig, Christoph A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - From selling machinery to hybrid offerings BT - Organizational impact of digital servitization on manufacturing firms JF - International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management N2 - The transition towards services has been imperative for manufacturing firms for years. The change from a productoriented to a more service-dominant business model affects the organizational structure of firms. However, literature provides limited insights into how manufacturing firms organize themselves in this transition. Even though digital technologies are critical for the transition, it is unclear how to orchestrate digital and traditional Information Technology (IT) resources in manufacturing firms accordingly. We analyze the case of a typical manufacturing firm that has adjusted its structure to reorganize for solution offerings based on product, service, and digital components. Our results describe a hybrid organizational structure that splits front- and back-end units. The back-end units are split along solution components. Digital IT resources are internalized and governed decentrally, with traditional IT resources being outsourced and steered centrally. Our findings contribute to digital servitization research by clarifying the overarching as well as the digital and traditional IT-related organization for manufacturing firms. KW - digital servitization KW - manufacturing firm KW - organizational structure KW - digital technologies KW - service-dominant logic Y1 - 2022 UR - https://ijispm.sciencesphere.org/archive/ijispm-100301.pdf U6 - https://doi.org/10.12821/ijispm100301 SN - 2182-7788 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 5 EP - 27 PB - SciKA ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Käss, Sebastian A1 - Godefroid, Marie A1 - Borghoff, Vincent A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Plattfaut, Ralf T1 - Towards a taxonomy of concepts describing IT outside the IT department T2 - Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2021, Sydney N2 - Due to technological advances, IT is increasingly introduced and managed outside of (or even hidden from) an organisation's IT department. As a result, researchers and practitioners have created multiple concepts describing different facets and trends of this development. While the individual concepts typically focus on different aspects, there are overlaps between these concepts. This effect hampers research progress as it creates redundancies and separate streams of knowledge development. We propose a taxonomy of the concepts Lightweight IT, IT Consumerisation, Bring Your Own Device, Shadow IT, and Business-Managed IT to solve this research problem based on a systematic literature review. For this purpose, we derive characterising dimensions of each concept from existing studies and analyse literature according to the usage of terms. As a result, we can describe and delineate the concepts. Thus, we contribute a taxonomy of IT outside the IT department to improve the transfer of research results between research streams. KW - IT outside the IT KW - Shadow IT KW - Taxonomy KW - Lightweight IT KW - IT Consumerisation Y1 - 2021 UR - https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2021/9/ ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kopper, Andreas A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - Kontrollierte Nutzung von Schatten-IT T2 - IT-GRC-Management - Governance, Risk und Compliance N2 - Basierend auf einer systematischen und umfangreichen Analyse von Praxisbeiträgen zum Thema Schatten-IT und einer Interviewstudie mit 16 IT-Führungskräften beschreibt der vorliegende Artikel Governance-Aspekte zu diesem Phänomen. Er ergänzt damit vorhergehende akademische Studien. Es zeigt sich, dass unter Praktikern der Eindruck vorherrscht, dass IT-Abteilungen unter zunehmendem Druck stehen, schneller auf sich ändernde Anforderungen aus den Fachbereichen reagieren zu müssen. Können IT-Abteilungen diesen Erwartungen nicht entsprechen, beschaffen sich Fachbereiche und Nutzer selbst Lösungen in Form von Schatten-IT. Als mögliche Antwort darauf kann sich die IT-Abteilung agiler organisieren und die IT-Architektur im Unternehmen modernisieren. Eine weitere Möglichkeit besteht darin, sich das innovative Potenzial von Schatten-IT zunutze zu machen und deren Umsetzung aktiv durch organisatorische und technische Maßnahmen zu unterstützen. IT-Sicherheitsmanagement und technische Schutzmechanismen können helfen, die so entstandenen Lösungen abzusichern und die Risiken zu minimieren. Die IT-Abteilung könnte sich als Konsequenz aus all diesen Maßnahmen zu einem nutzerorientierten, internen Service-Provider und strategischen Partner für die Fachbereiche entwickeln. Y1 - 2017 SN - 978-3-658-20058-9 SN - 978-3-658-20059-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-20059-6_9 SP - 129 EP - 150 PB - Springer Vieweg CY - Wiesbaden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kratzer, Simon A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - Der Chief Information Officer als Forschungsgegenstand: Ein Blick zurück auf vier Jahrzehnte Forschung und ein Ausblick auf zukünftige Perspektiven JF - HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik N2 - Trotz der Relevanz und des Reifegrads des Forschungsbereichs Chief Information Officer (CIO) gibt es nur wenige Studien, die den aktuellen Wissensstand objektiv und umfänglich zusammenfassen. Die vorliegende Arbeit schließt diese Forschungslücke und präsentiert eine umfassende Literaturübersicht über das CIO-Forschungsfeld unter Verwendung der Hauptpfadanalyse. Anhand einer quantitativen und qualitativen Analyse von 438 Forschungsbeiträgen werden die zentralen Arbeiten in der CIO-Forschung und verschiedene Forschungsrichtungen identifiziert. Es zeigt sich, dass sowohl etablierte Forschungsrichtungen, wie z. B. ‚Entwicklung der CIO-Rolle‘ und ‚Hierarchische Position und Beziehungen des CIOs‘, als auch neu entstehende Forschungsrichtungen, wie z. B. ‚CIO als Business Enabler‘, wachsende Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen. Auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse werden vielversprechende weitere Wege auf dem Gebiet der CIO-Forschung aufgezeigt, z. B. solche, die den Einfluss neuerer Technologien untersuchen. N2 - Despite the relevance and maturity of research related to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) role, there are few studies that objectively and comprehensively summarize the current state of the art. This paper fills this research gap and presents a comprehensive literature review of the CIO research field using main path analysis. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 438 research articles, the central contributions in CIO research and different research directions are identified. Our results show that both established research directions, such as ‘CIO Role Development’ and ‘CIO Hierarchical Position and Relationships’, and emerging research directions, such as ‘CIO as Business Enabler’, are attracting growing attention. Based on the results, we derive promising further directions in the field of CIO research, e.g., such as those investigating the impact of new technologies. T2 - The Chief Information Officer as a Research Field: A Retrospective on four Decades of Research and an Outlook on Future Perspectives KW - Bibliometrische Analyse KW - Forschungsagenda KW - Literaturübersicht KW - Chief Information Officer Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1365/s40702-022-00878-5 VL - 59 SP - 721 EP - 740 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Brosig, Christoph A1 - Bley, Katja A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - The Missing Piece – Calibration of Qualitative Data for Qualitative Comparative Analyses in IS Research T2 - Thirtieth European Conference on Information Systems, New Horizons in Digitally United Societies (ECIS 2022): 18. - 24.06.2022, Timisoara, Romania N2 - Over the last years, configurational research has become increasingly popular in the Information Systems (IS) discipline. Researchers value configurational methods like Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as their application contributes to a better understanding of complex phenomena. QCA helps to uncover interrelations of conditions that lead to an outcome, building on the principles of equifinality, conjunctural causation, and asymmetry. More recently, IS researchers have started to analyze qualitative data, like case study data, with QCA. However, there is a lack of methodological guidance on how to calibrate qualitative data into set membership values for QCA. Therefore, this paper structures methodological steps and the associated options to calibrate qualitative data from an interdisciplinary perspective and critically reviews the observed methodological choices in IS research. This paper also gives recommendations for calibrating qualitative data to support informed methodological choices for future research. KW - Qualitative Comparative Analysis KW - Qualitative Data KW - Methodology KW - Data Calibration Y1 - 2022 UR - https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2022_rp/37/ SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Association for Information Systems ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Käss, Sebastian A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - Drivers and Inhibitors of Low Code Development Platform Adoption T2 - 2022 IEEE 24th Conference on Business Informatics (CBI): 15.06. - 17.06.2022, Amsterdam N2 - When done right, the use of low code development promises a significant competitive advantage in the software development process for organizations. Thus, multiple vendors have created low code development platforms to ease the use of low code development. However, current research on low code development platforms mainly focuses on the technological aspects of the platforms but not on their adoption. Hence, it remains unclear what drives and inhibits the adoption of low code development platforms. We conducted a literature review and identified thirteen factors that inhibit the adoption and seven factors that drive it. We structure these factors along with the diffusion of innovation framework that helps to disentangle drivers and inhibitors. As a result, we provide an initial explanation of the adoption of low code development platforms. Nevertheless, we conclude that existing research on the adoption of low code development platforms is not specific enough to understand the phenomenon substantially. Further, for some factors (e.g., cost), there is a disagreement in the academic literature on whether they are drivers or inhibitors. Hence, we identify gaps and derive avenues for future research. KW - low code KW - no code KW - adoption KW - driver KW - inhibitor Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/CBI54897.2022.00028 SP - 196 EP - 205 PB - IEEE ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strasser, Artur A1 - Strahringer, Susanne A1 - Westner, Markus T1 - Determinants of success and failure of knowledge transfer in information systems offshoring BT - A ranking-type Delphi study JF - International Journal of Information Technology and Management N2 - The transfer of knowledge from client to service provider poses major challenges in information systems (IS) offshoring projects. Knowledge transfer directly affects IS offshoring success. Therefore, associated challenges must be overcome. Our study examines the determinants of success and failure of knowledge transfer in IS offshoring projects based on a ranking-type Delphi study. We questioned 32 experts from Germany, each with more than ten years of experience in near- or offshore initiatives to seek a consensus among them. We identified 19 success and 20 failure determinants. These determinants are ranked in order of importance using best-worst scaling. Aspects of closer cooperation are critical for effective knowledge transfer. This includes regular collaboration, willingness to help and support, and mutual trust. In contrast, critical determinants of failure are concerned with fears and fluctuation of human resources. Hidden ambiguities or knowledge gaps, an unwillingness and disability to share knowledge, and high fluctuation of human resources negatively impact knowledge transfer. KW - best-worst scaling KW - Delphi KW - Information systems offshoring KW - knowledge transfer KW - determinants of success Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1504/IJITM.2023.10055151 SN - 1741-5179 VL - 22 IS - 1/2 PB - Inderscience ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kratzer, Simon A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Strahringer, Susanne T1 - Mehr als Vollzeit: Fractional CIOs in KMUs JF - HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik N2 - Auch kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMUs) benötigen zunehmend ein effektives Informationstechnologie- (IT)-Management, um wettbewerbsfähig zu bleiben. Im Vergleich zu großen Unternehmen verfügen KMUs jedoch oft nicht über die Ressourcen, die Arbeitgeberattraktivität oder den Bedarf, um einen Chief Information Officer (CIO) in Vollzeit zu beschäftigen. Um diese Lücke zu schließen, hat eine wachsende Zahl von Expertinnen und Experten weltweit damit begonnen, CIO-Dienste in Teilzeit anzubieten. Auf diese Weise erhalten KMUs Zugang zu erfahrenen und kompetenten IT-Führungskräften zu einem Bruchteil der Kosten und ohne langfristige Verpflichtungen. Während diese so genannten „Fractional CIOs“ in der Praxis bereits einen Mehrwert schaffen, gibt es noch kaum wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zu diesem neuen Phänomen. In einem größeren Forschungsprojekt mit insgesamt 62 Fractional CIOs aus 10 Ländern wurden daher eine Definition, Typen verschiedenartiger Engagements und Erfolgsfaktoren abgeleitet. Die vorliegende Studie fasst die Ergebnisse zusammen und setzt sie in Bezug zum deutschen Markt, indem sie drei Fractional CIOs/CTOs aus Deutschland befragt. Es zeigt sich, dass die folgenden vier Engagement-Typen von Fractional CIOs für KMUs in verschiedenen Situationen von Nutzen sind: Strategisches IT-Management, Restrukturierung, Skalierung und Hands-on Support. Darüber hinaus zeigt die Studie, dass Vertrauen, die Unterstützung durch das Top-Management-Team und die Integrität des Fractional CIOs Schlüsselfaktoren für den Erfolg von Fractional CIO-Engagements sind. Für den deutschen Markt werden die Ergebnisse durch drei befragte Fractional CIOs/CTOs weitgehend bestätigt. Die Fractional CIOs/CTOs können zwar keine genauen Gründe für die geringe Akzeptanz der Rolle nennen, betonen aber ihr Wertpotenzial für den deutschen Markt. KW - Chief Information Officer KW - Chief Technology Officer KW - Fractional CIO KW - Fractional CTO KW - Teilzeit-Interim-Management Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1365/s40702-023-01010-x SN - 2198-2775 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kratzer, Simon A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Strahringer, Susanne T1 - Factors for Fractional CIO Engagement Success JF - Information & Management N2 - As small- to medium-sized enterprises struggle with IT management, an increasing number appoint Fractional CIOs, i.e., CIOs that work part-time for multiple organizations simultaneously. We use Q-methodology to empirically evaluate the relative importance of factors for Fractional CIO engagement success and find that trust, top management team support, and the Fractional CIO's integrity are most important. Further, we identify three groups of Fractional CIOs: Strategic IT Advisors, Full-ownership CIOs, and Change Agents. Our results guide organizations when hiring and working with Fractional CIOs and provide the basis for further research on Fractional CIO archetypes.As small- to medium-sized enterprises struggle with IT management, an increasing number appoint Fractional CIOs, i.e., CIOs that work part-time for multiple organizations simultaneously. We use Q-methodology to empirically evaluate the relative importance of factors for Fractional CIO engagement success and find that trust, top management team support, and the Fractional CIO's integrity are most important. Further, we identify three groups of Fractional CIOs: Strategic IT Advisors, Full-ownership CIOs, and Change Agents. Our results guide organizations when hiring and working with Fractional CIOs and provide the basis for further research on Fractional CIO archetypes. KW - Fractional CIO KW - Virtual CIO KW - SMEs KW - Small Businesses KW - Engagement Success KW - Q-Methodology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2023.103793 SN - 0378-7206 VL - 60 PB - Elsevier ER -