http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Understanding information systems as social institutions
xii, 332 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
The deployment of large-scale information systems such as enterprise resource planning systems, knowledge management systems, customer relationship management systems, and interorganizational information systems) is a major trend in the corporate world. However, in the information systems field there is a lack of understanding of exactly what these large-scale systems involve and how they evolve over time. This dissertation develops a meta-theoretical framework, the Dynamic Institutional Theory, for understanding the design, implementation, and use of large-scale information systems. The Dynamic Institutional Theory integrates institutional theory with two influential social theories currently used in the information systems field - structuration theory and actor network theory. It argues that information systems are best construed as social institutions and their development and use as a dynamic process of institutionalization. The first seven chapters develop the Dynamic Institutional Theory based on analysis and critique of existing theory and research. The remainder of the dissertation presents a case study of a large-scale information system in a university setting that is used to explore the utility of the Dynamic Institutional Theory as a framework for understanding the development and use of large-scale information systems. Results of the case study are used to further develop and refine the Dynamic Institutional Theory. This dissertation attempts to make three types of contributions. First, it attempts to add to our knowledge of large-scale information systems through providing critiques of extant approaches and understandings of such systems. Second, the dissertation attempts to contribute to theory-building within the IS field through developing a meta-theoretical framework that considers both local, contingent aspects of sociotechnical change and the broader social structures at the same time. Finally, the dissertation attempts to contribute to the tenets of institutional theory by developing a dynamic institutional theory that reconceptualizes the process of institutionalization.
"Major Subject: Information and Operations Management".
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-325).
Major information and operations management