Research Interests

1. Organizational IT Maturity.  What distinguishes organizations that develop, acquire and deploy information systems well from those who do not?  My colleagues and I think that this factor is a certain kind of maturity with respect to the use of information systems.  We call this organizational IT maturity.  It is composed of five components that we feel develop sequentially over time: awareness, commitment, trust, respect and responsibility.  We're doing research among users and IT people to see how this set of concepts develops.    

2. The System Steward Role in Information Systems Post-Implementation: The activities of individuals charged with assuring proper and trouble-free use of installed systems. These generally are departmental managers.  Current research is looking at defining this role in a variety of applications.  In addition, this research examines the use of IT for personal competitive advantage in the world of work. A third stream examines the applicability of the stewardship model to IT governance in multinational firms. 

3. Information Systems and National Development: Exploration into the application of information technology to economic, social and political development in the Third World. The focus here is E-commerce readiness and the role that internal and external business environment factors have in determining an organization's readiness for E-commerce in a developing nation environment.

4. Electronic Commerce: The use of E-commerce modes to support undergraduate business and management education.  The role of the individual small business operator in E-commerce implementation.

4. The New Economy: Emerging business models and roles for IT to play in fostering them. In particular, this research examines what I've termed "economies of style", an extreme flexibility in relationship management within value networks.  No papers published yet, but it's fun watching this idea become a reality in practice.  

5. Culture and Information Systems: Examination of the interplay of cultural factors in the diffusion and implementation and ultimate use of information systems.  Another aspect of this research is an exploration of CP Snow's famous "Two Cultures" ideas of almost fifty years ago and how distinct cultures arise around various technologies.  A further aspect looks at IT adoption in third world cultures, which is part of C P Snow's second "two cultures" idea fifty years ago.  Finally, I am applying stewardship principles here and examining the gap between information (technology) providers and users, a gap analogous to Snow's two cultures of fifty years ago.  I am writing an anniversary monograph on this topic, but will almost certainly not finish it until some time in 2010. 

This web page last updated December 18, 2009