Information Systems Foundations: THEORY BUILDING IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS Information Systems Foundations: THEORY BUILDING IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS Dennis N. Hart and Shirley D. Gregor (Editors) Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Information Systems Foundations (‘Theory Building in Information Systems’) Workshop (2010 : Canberra, A.C.T.) Title: Information systems foundations : Theory Building in Information Systems/ edited by Dennis N. Hart and Shirley D. Gregor. ISBN: 9781921862939 (pbk.) 9781921862946 (ebook) Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Management information systems--Congresses. Information resources management--Congresses. Other Authors/Contributors: Gregor, Shirley Diane. Hart, Dennis Neil. Dewey Number: 658.4038 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by ANU E Press Cover illustration by Michael Gregor Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2012 ANU E Press Contents Contributors . vii Preface . ix The Papers . xi Part One: Fundamental Issues 1 . Theory Building in the Information Systems Discipline: Some critical reflections . 1 Ron Weber Monash University 2 . Obstacles to Building Effective Theory about Attitudes and Behaviours Towards Technology . 21 Mary Tate Victoria University of Wellington Joerg Evermann Memorial University of Newfoundland 3 . Untangling Causality in Design Science Theorising . 55 Dirk S. Hovorka Bond University Shirley Gregor The Australian National University Part Two: Theories and Theorising in Practice 4 . Theorising about the Life Cycle of IT Use: An appropriation perspective . 79 Justin Fidock RMIT University Jennie Carroll RMIT University 5 . A Critical Systems Thinking Perspective for IS Adoption . 113 Syed Arshad Raza Edith Cowan University Craig Standing Edith Cowan University v 6 . Advancing Task-Technology Fit Theory: A formative measurement approach to determining task-channel fit for electronic banking channels . 133 Hartmut Hoehle Victoria University of Wellington Sid Huff Victoria University of Wellington 7 . Theory Building in Action: Structured-case with action interventions . 171 Gerlinde Koeglreiter University of Melbourne Ross Smith RMIT University Luba Torlina Deakin University 8 . The Unit of Analysis in IS Theory: The case for activity . 191 Helen Hasan University of Wollongong Sumayya Banna University of Wollongong 9 . IT-Driven Modernisation in Agriculture: New theories for a new phenomenon . 215 Lapo Mola University of Verona Cecilia Rossignoli University of Verona Walter Fernandez The Australian National University Andrea Carugati University of Aarhus 10 . Competing with Business Analytics: Research in progress . 239 Harjot Singh Dod University of Melbourne Rajeev Sharma University of Melbourne Part Three: The Big Picture 11 . Theory: An informatics perspective . 253 Craig McDonald vi University of Canberra Contributors Workshop Chair Shirley D. Gregor, The Australian National University Program Chairs Shirley D. Gregor, The Australian National University Dennis Hart, The Australian National University Jan Recker, Queensland University of Technology Program Committee Andrea Carugati, Aarhus University, Denmark Patrick Chau, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Walter Fernandez, The Australian National University, Australia Guy Gable, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Sigi Goode, The Australian National University, Australia Peter Green, University of Queensland, Australia Dirk Hovorka, Bond University, Australia James Jiang, The Australian National University, Australia Robert Johnston, University College Dublin, Ireland Aleck Lin, The Australian National University, Australia M. Lynne Markus, Bentley University, USA Nigel Martin, The Australian National University, Australia Craig McDonald, University of Canberra, Australia Arun Rai, Georgia State University, USA Michael Rosemann, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Tracy Ann Sykes, The Australian National University, Australia Eric van Heck, Erasmus University, Netherlands John Venable, Curtin University, Australia Iris Vessey, University of Queensland, Australia Xiaofang Zhou, University of Queensland, Australia vii Preface This volume contains the papers presented at the Information Systems Foundations Workshop, 30 September – 1 October 2010. This workshop was the fifth in The Australian National University (ANU) series of biennial workshops that was originally inspired by one held in 1999 by Kit Dampney at Macquarie University, and that focuses on the theoretical foundations of the discipline of information systems (IS). The theme of the 2010 workshop was ‘Theory Building in Information Systems’ and it once again allowed researchers and practitioners in the field of information systems to come together to discuss some of the fundamental issues relating to our discipline. Information systems is still a relatively young field of study that, perhaps uniquely, is a peculiar juxtaposition of the technological, in the form of computing and communication technology, and the non-technological, in the form of the humans and organisations that design, implement and use systems built with that technology. It is, indeed, this juxtaposition of artefacts and phenomena from what are often termed the ‘hard’ and the ‘soft’ ends of the spectrum that makes the development of useful and robust theory in the field such a challenge. The sciences that underlie and deal with technologically oriented fields such as computing and related areas generally result in theories that fit within the ‘covering law’ model—that is, are assumed and believed to have universal applicability and explanatory and predictive power. And, typically, such theories exhibit a deterministic character as well. By contrast, theories in the human sciences are generally much more circumscribed in the phenomena with which they deal and the domains in which they are applicable, and are much more conditional, contextual, tentative and open to exceptions. Trying, therefore, to build successful theory in a discipline like information systems in which phenomena from both the ‘hard’ and the ‘soft’ coexist is a bit like trying to mix together immiscible fluids such as oil and water: it doesn’t matter how much you stir it all up, what you wind up with is still just a conglomeration of little blobs of oil and other separate little blobs of water! It was, therefore, with this kind of problem in mind that the 2010 workshop was held. Typically the information systems foundations workshops give authors an opportunity to present papers and get feedback on ideas that might be regarded as too new or risky for publication in conventional outlets. There have been some good outcomes from this approach, with revised papers going on to find a wider audience in mainstream journals. As the workshop is deliberately ix Information Systems Foundations: Theory building in information systems kept small, and there is only one stream of papers, all paper presentations are typically attended by all participants, which often leads to ongoing and vigorous discussion. The papers presented here were accepted after a double-blind review process and we thank our program committee and reviewers for their assistance. We also acknowledge and thank the sponsors of the workshop: the National Centre for Information Systems Research (NCISR), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Enterprise Information Infrastructure (EII) network and the School of Accounting and Business Information Systems at ANU. Finally, we would like to thank the keynote speakers at the workshop—Mike Morris, Viswanath Venkatesh and Ron Weber—whose presence, expertise and participation added greatly to the value of the event for all concerned. All in all, therefore, the workshop provided a stimulating and productive as well as an enjoyable couple of days for both the authors and the attendees, and we hope that the papers that form this volume will provide similar stimulation, provoke similar productive outcomes and perhaps provide some enjoyable reading as well, for a wider audience than those who were able to attend the workshop itself. Shirley Gregor Dennis Hart x The Papers The 11 papers in this book are organised into three sections entitled ‘Fundamental Issues’, ‘Theories and Theorising in Practice’ and ‘The Big Picture’, reflecting the wide range of topics relating to theories and theory building that were addressed in the 2010 workshop. The fundamental issues section contains three papers, each of which puts forward a particular perspective on how theories in information systems should be structured or built. The first, by Weber, offers a view of what theory is, or should be, through a set of criteria for evaluating theory quality as well as a detailed example of how those criteria can be applied. Following this, Tate and Evermann identify a number of obstacles that they argue can, and in many instances do, seriously hinder the development of good theory in the field. Importantly, however, beyond just identifying these obstacles they also offer suggestions as to how they might be avoided or overcome. The third and final paper in the fundamental issues section