Overview
Business organizations are reported to be investing a considerable proportion of their free capital in information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) . However, it is also reported that as many as 50 percent of these undertakings lead to IS/IT solutions judged to be outright failures or deemed highly unsatisfactory. As the impressive amount of published research on IT innovation and diffusion has already shown, the development and use of IS/IT requires continuous innovation and diffusion processes among an organization's line employees, internal IT experts, and external support mechanisms (e.g., research centers, consultants, software houses, and vendors). Because of the alarmingly high IS/IT investment failure rate, however, one can easily assume that this published research on IT/IT innovation and diffusion is thus far fragmented, incomplete, and has not provided clear direction to effectively understanding technology innovation and diffusion issues. Part of the reason for the seeming disconnect between research and practice is simply that IT is continuing to develop at such a rapid pace. More and more information and complex relationships are being captured, stored, processed, and transmitted to ever larger numbers of knowledge workers within and between organizations. For many industry segments, the very nature and definition of their business is undergoing continual and radical change. The way work is done, decisions are made, products are tailored, production is automated, material is distributed and customers are satisfied is all changing on a global state. IT stands squarely in the middle to this transformation and looks to a near future where business trends will require the use of information in ways not yet even imaged. Readers of this book should not expect to find an integrated and comprehensive approach to IT innovation and diffusion issues. The chapters represent the diverse and unique views of authors who approach the technology innovation and diffusion process from a wide variety of perspectives. Each offers a piece of the whole picture. Taken together, these chapters present the careful and insightful exploration of many variables affecting the innovation and diffusion process. Information Systems Innovation and Diffusion: Issues and Directions reports on state-of-the-art IS/IT innovation and diffusion research and presents innovation and diffusion theory-based guidelines to enable managers to take firmer control over the issues and processes that will increase the business value of IS/IT investments.
Tor J. Larsen received his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota in 1989. At present he is Associate Professor at the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Larsen's main research interest areas are innovation processes, managers' use of information and effects from the development and use of information systems. He has published in international journals, conferences, and books and he serves as associate editor for Management Information Systems Quarterly and Journal of Global Information Management.
Eugene McGuire is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Information Systems Department at the American University in Washington, DC. His primary research interests are in the areas of software process improvement, software team development and organizational change. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of End User Computing and has served as guest editor for special issues of Journal of End User Computing and Journal of Global Information Management. He is currently working on another book, Software Process Improvement: Concepts and Practices scheduled for publication in Spring 1999.