Fakultät Informatik und Mathematik
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To prepare their IT landscape for future business challenges, companies are changing their IT sourcing arrangements by using selective sourcing approaches as well as multi-sourcing with more but smaller sourcing contracts. Companies therefore have to reconsider and re-evaluate their IT sourcing setup more frequently. Collecting data from 251 global experts, we empirically tested the effect of service quality, relationship quality, and switching costs on IT sourcing decisions using partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Drawing on previously conducted expert interviews, our model extends previous studies and introduces a decision maker’s sourcing preferences as a not yet examined moderator on IT sourcing decisions. This allows us to investigate the influence of the decision maker’s beliefs on the decision process. We were able to confirm the negative effect of switching costs on a decision in favor of backsourcing, however we could not find significant support for the remaining hypotheses. We further discuss potential reasons for our findings and suggest future research opportunities based on our contribution.
Adding experts’ perceptions to complement existing research on information systems backsourcing
(2018)
This paper extends the existing literature on information systems (IS) backsourcing by the perception of practitioners.
For this purpose, we conducted a series of qualitative, semistructured interviews with IS sourcing experts. The interview questions focused on the participants’ perceptions and experiences with the topic, on identifying reasons for and against IS backsourcing, and on revealing relevant trends pertinent to IS backsourcing. We then compared those
findings with two previously conducted comprehensive literature reviews on academic and practitioner literature on IS backsourcing. By following this approach, we contribute to the existing research by verifying previous findings, for example, the most important reasons why companies decide in favor of IS backsourcing. Additionally, we were able to enhance previous contributions as we highlight the significance of differentiating between the scope of IS backsourcing
by looking at the underlying services which are potentially backsourced. Further, we identified the importance of managers’ personal preferences as an additional reason for IS backsourcing, for example, based on personal experiences or a perceived need for change. Based on our findings, we created a comprehensive overview of all aspects connected to the IS backsourcing process and derived opportunities for further research to contribute to the IS backsourcing research agenda.
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.
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.
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.
In the era of digitalization, companies review how to build competitive advantage drawing on their capabilities. In this context, the paper revisits the concept of IT capabilities. We summarize the “canonical” body of literature to characterize how leading scholars conceptualized and differentiated IT capabilities and then we show how new types of IT capabilities (for example, rising from SMACIT technologies) relate to this. We find that the resource-based view is still leading in how to conceptualize IT capabilities. However, an alternative perspective on IT assets is emerging, looking at it from the angle of digital technologies as stacks. Digital technologies form the foundation for a new technology-driven perspective on IT capabilities. This new view complements the established differentiation of IT capabilities considering IT infrastructure flexibility, IT management, and IT personnel capability. Both perspectives describe the explorative and exploitative nature of IT capabilities. This paper helps scholars and practitioners to clearly distinguish different perspectives of IT capabilities on how to build a competitive advantage from IT today.
This paper connects research from business model innovation and information systems by exploring critical IT capabilities for servitized business models. The adoption of servitized business models is a major business model innovation strategy. At the same time, digitalization drives the evolution of IT capabilities at these business models. Scholars argue that it remains unclear how IT capabilities enable servitized business models to build a competitive advantage by achieving cost advantages or differentiation. This paper explores IT capabilities that enable building a competitive advantage for servitized business models based on a qualitative analysis of multiple published case studies. The authors identify configurations of IT capabilities among servitized business models. The findings contribute to servitization research by exploring IT capabilities
and how they are combined among servitized business models.
The insights help practitioners deploy digital technologies and IT
assets effectively as building blocks of IT capabilities to advance
their servitized business model.
Shadow IT and Business-managed IT describe the autonomous deployment/procurement or management of Information Technology (IT) instances, i.e., software, hardware, or IT services, by business entities. For Shadow IT, this happens covertly, i.e., without alignment with the IT organization; for Business-managed IT this happens overtly, i.e., in alignment with the IT organization or in a split responsibility model. We conduct a systematic literature review and structure the identified research themes in a framework of causing factors, outcomes, and governance. As causing factors, we identify enablers, motivators, and missing barriers. Outcomes can be benefits as well as risks/shortcomings of Shadow IT and Business-managed IT. Concerning governance, we distinguish two subcategories: general governance for Shadow IT and Business-managed IT and instance governance for overt Business-managed IT. Thus, a specific set of governance approaches exists for Business-managed IT that cannot be applied to Shadow IT due to its covert nature. Hence, we extend the existing conceptual understanding and allocate research themes to Shadow IT, Business-managed IT, or both concepts and particularly distinguish the governance of the two concepts. Besides, we find that governance themes have been the primary research focus since 2016, whereas older publications (until 2015) focused on causing factors.
Fachbereichs-IT, Schatten-IT, Business-managed IT. All diese Begriffe beschreiben IT, die neben den eigentlichen, regulären IT-Systemen oder -Prozessen in Unternehmen existieren und von Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern der Fachbereiche genutzt werden. Im Fall von„Schatten-IT“ handelt es sich um IT-Systeme und -Prozesse (IT-Instanzen), die sich ohne Kenntnis der IT-Verantwortlichen etabliert haben; im Fall von„Business-managed IT“ entstehen die IT-Systeme und -Prozesse in Kenntnis der bzw. in Abstimmung mit den IT-Verantwortlichen im Unternehmen.„Fachbereichs-IT“ subsumiert Schatten-IT und Business-managed IT. Welche Ursachen führen zu solchen IT-Instanzen, welche Potenziale und Risiken haben diese IT-Instanzen und wie lassen sie sich steuern?
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.