Managing large-scale IS/IT projects in the public sector: Problems and causes leading to poor performance

With a large scope and high degree of complexity, managing large-scale projects is a challenge to project managers. The challenge is even greater when it comes to public sector projects due to the involvement of many stakeholders and the need to manage various relationships. For these reasons, many projects ended up with poor performance. Research has shown that success in managing large-scale projects requires a great deal of coordination and collaboration which can be done through established processes, strong teams, and involvement of stakeholders. Even though these processes and approaches are known, effectively implementing them is very difficult. The objective of this study is to investigate the management of selected large-scale IS/IT projects in the public sector in order to identify common problems and causes leading to poor performance. Fourteen projects from the US, UK, and Australia were studied, making this research among the few studies to investigate large-scale IS/IT projects in the public sector from different countries. The research results indicate common problems related to system design and implementation, project management and governance, and contract management. Theoretical contributions and implications for practitioners are also discussed.     

The learning preferences of Enterprise System consultants: towards the preferred learning pattern

This paper presents the results of a combined quantitative–qualitative study that explored the learning patterns of IT consultants involved in the implementation of Enterprise Systems (ES). The study was carried out in a multinational IT consulting company that specialises in Enterprise System consulting and has offices in Germany, the UK, the US, Poland and China. The study revealed the preferred learning pattern of IT consultants, which starts with introductory learning, preferably executed in the form of instruction-based training, followed by the preparation of a prototype to process and sustain the knowledge, and continues with hands-on learning during real-life projects. Learning during projects was identified as the most important knowledge source, as it is the only way actually to gain experience. The experience itself was considered to be the final outcome of the learning process, and it is the main asset of a consulting enterprise.     

Examining the Relationship between Social Media Analytics Practices and Business Performance in the Indian Retail and IT Industries: The Mediation Role of Customer Engagement

Social media analytics (SMA) is a dynamic field which has received considerable attention from both academics and management practitioners alike. A significant number of the scholarly research currently being conducted in SMA, however, is conceptual. Industry experts know that SMA creates new opportunities for organisations who want to more strongly engage with their customers and improve business performance. However, the relationship between social media analytic practices (SMAP), customer engagement (CE), and business performance (BP) has not yet been sufficiently investigated from an empirical perspective. In order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between SMAP and BP and the mediation role of CE in that process, a large-scale survey was conducted among senior and mid-level managers as well as consultants in the Retail and information technology (IT) industries in India. Specifically, a structured closed-ended questionnaire was administered to managers and management consultants country-wide and gathered usable responses from 281 respondents holding positions such as: Digital Marketing Executive/Digital Marketing Specialist, Management Consultant, Analytics Manager, Customer Relationship Manager, Marketing Director, Engagement Manager, etc. who were in charge of digital marketing strategies in the respondent retail and IT organisations. The questionnaire addressed issues related to the way in which SMAP contribute to an enhanced business performance through the mediation role of customer engagement. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyse the received empirical data. On the basis of the findings our research concludes that there is a significant positive relationship between SMAP and BP mediated by CE in the Indian retail and IT industries.     

IT engagement as a blessing and a curse? Examining its antecedents and outcomes in organizations

Information technology (IT) engagement is defined as a need to spend more time using IT. Practice-based examples show that IT engagement can have adverse effects in organizations. Although users can potentially get more work done through IT engagement, observations show that the users might jeopardize their well-being and hamper their work performance. We aimed to investigate this complexity in the research on IT engagement by examining its potential antecedents and outcomes in organizations. Considering the potentially mixed outcomes, we developed a model to examine the effects of IT engagement on personal productivity and strain. We also aimed to explain the antecedents of IT engagement by drawing on the collective expectations for IT use. In particular, we examined the extent to which normative pressure on IT use drives users’ information load and IT engagement. Finally, we sought to understand whether users’ attempts to avert dependency on IT use reduced their IT engagement. Several hypotheses were developed and tested with survey data of 1091 organizational IT users. The findings help explain the role of normative pressure as a key driver of IT engagement and validate the positive and negative outcomes of IT engagement in organizations.     

Reinventing the public sector in Africa through knowledge management

There is extensive coverage in literature of knowledge management (KM) implementation based on private sector entities. Although recent trends have been characterised by a shift towards understanding KM in the public sector organisations, there is very little focus on the public sector entities in Africa. KM has become popular in modern organisations because it is capable of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of entities if properly implemented. While the explosion of the internet has seen the emergence of public sector transformation programmes such as e-government plans, most African states have wholly adopted these without due consideration to the structural constraints they would face in their implementation. Having observed that e-government is technology-based and most African states lack the necessary information technology (IT) tools to effectively implement it, my proposition in this paper is that the most viable option of transforming the public sector in Africa could be through KM, rather than e-government. Nevertheless, e-government plans in African states should be implemented as a component of the overall KM strategy.     

An application of the knowledge management maturity model: the case of credit unions

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of knowledge management (KM) maturity of credit unions. The application of a maturity model to 15 credit unions in North America revealed that an overall level of KM maturity is at an early stage of development, but there are signs of future improvement. Credit unions operate in a highly competitive, knowledge-intensive financial industry and experience various pressures to increase their efficiency, which they can achieve through the implementation of KM solutions. Despite the absence of official KM strategies, KM projects were introduced locally in order to fill particular knowledge gaps. The availability of IT infrastructure and the implementation of KM-related technologies alone are insufficient to ensure universal success of organizational KM activities. Credit union managers periodically access and use academic research in their decision making. At the same time, they prefer accessing scholarly knowledge in translated form from books, practitioner magazines, and consultants. It was concluded that organizations competing in the knowledge-intensive sector have an inner need for KM solutions.     

eGovernment Document Management System: A case analysis of risk and reward

United Kingdom Local Authorities (UKLA) have the responsibility for delivering a wide range of services to the general public which include a number of significant problems in many delivery areas. The information technology (IT) field is arguably one of the most challenging. Consequently, a senior executive issue within UKLA is transforming organisations through the deployment of IT. This is due to the call from the UK National Government for the public sector to be more innovative. This paper investigates via a case analysis, the rationale for the implementation of an organisational-wide, corporate electronic document management system (EDMS). There is a paucity in the literature, which this research aims to help address. This paper analyses how the EDMS was deployed and how the case organisation was transformed and the findings are mapped against the normative literature.     

Essential competencies for technochange management: Towards an assessment model

The term technochange refers to technology-driven organizational changes and covers the broad spectrum of aspects that are related to and have an impact on changes within organizations. Technochange processes are usually managed by change managers, who are responsible for successfully accomplishing the IT-related tasks in their projects, as well as every other structural and organizational dimension related to the implementation of technochanges. This paper discusses what competencies managers should have to carry out these processes effectively. On the basis of the existing literature, interviews with experts and case study research, we identify and test a set of IT- and non-IT-related competencies that are essential for managing technochange processes within and among organizations. Further, this paper presents a model for assessing and allocating project managers to IT technochange projects that match their competencies and skills. This model could also serve as a tool for developing technochange management competencies via targeted training programmes. A case study demonstrates how the assessment model can be used in practice. Finally, we make some suggestions for future research in the fields of change management and IT.     

Knowledge-Based Risk Management framework for Information Technology project

The purpose of this paper is to explore the field of Risk Management (RM) in relation with Knowledge Management (KM). It attempts to present a conceptual framework, called Knowledge-Based Risk Management (KBRM) that employs KM processes to improve its effectiveness and increase the probability of success in innovative Information Technology (IT) projects. It addresses initiatives towards employing KM processes in RM processes by reviewing, interpreting the related and relevant literature and sheds light on integration with RM in the IT project.     

Imbalanced volunteer engagement in cultural heritage crowdsourcing: a task-related exploration based on causal inference

As the crowdsourcing approach is increasingly being used for digitizing cultural heritage artifacts, there is a rising need for volunteer engagement in such collaborative digital humanities projects. This study focuses on the less explored topic of imbalanced volunteer engagement (IVE); it refers to the fact that most volunteers tend to focus only on a small portion of tasks, making it challenging to sustain cultural heritage crowdsourcing (CHC) projects. Using a public dataset containing 145,168,535 items captured from the Australian Newspaper Digitisation Project, we utilized a machine learning-based causal inference approach to investigate the IVE problem by examining the causal relationships between task content characteristics and volunteer engagements. We used the directed acyclic graph (DAG) to represent the structure, such that a causal relationship consisting of 11 nodes and 16 edges was obtained. Specifically, four causes, including task category, word count, number of task lists, and whether the task was illustrated, directly affect IVE. We further discuss these findings from a theoretical perspective and suggest three propositions: a) nudge-like intervention of a task list, b) subjective (perceived) low task complexity, and c) attraction of task presentation, alleviating the IVE problem. This study contributes to the literature on volunteer engagement in the CHC context and sheds new light on the design and implementation of collaborative digital humanities projects.     

制造企业IT资源-IT能力对工艺创新的驱动研究

基于资源基础观,通过对IT资源、IT能力与工艺创新关系的文献回顾,构建了IT资源-IT能力对工艺创新的驱动模型,并提出了制造企业IT资源-IT能力驱动工艺创新的三个假设,最后选择我国216家制造企业为研究对象,对所提假设运用结构方程模型进行拟合.研究结果表明,制造企业IT有形资源-IT能力、IT人力资源-IT能力和IT无形资源-IT能力均促进了工艺创新的产生,进而从实证角度验证了信息化对工艺创新的驱动作用.     

Facilitating enterprise application integration adoption: An empirical analysis of UK local government authorities

local government authorities (LGAs) are organised around operational structures with business processes spanning within departments and across other government organisations. In such an organisational setting, the harmonisation of Information Technology (IT) operations, integration of cross-departmental processes and the underlying Information Systems (IS) signifies a challenge in delivering integrated services. This paper attempts to explore enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption in the UK local government authorities (LGAs). Despite the hype of EAI adoption in private domain, its application in LGAs is inadequate as there is a lack of adoption models/frameworks that can be used by the public sector. The context of the study is to consider the transformation of IT infrastructure management and operations with EAI technologies. The empirical findings, generated through a detailed case analysis, manifestly exemplify that EAI predominantly acts as a ‘back-office’ technology that facilitates operations by developing a flexible and maintainable integrated IT infrastructure. Our proposed framework is believed to be imperative and unique as it provides a more systematic way to examine the adoption of integration technologies, extends the established norms for EAI adoption by utilising a prioritisation technique to classify the importance of factors. The contribution of the research extends the literature on EAI and identifies theoretical and practical opportunities that facilitate LGAs in their decision-making process to produce more robust proposals for EAI adoption.     

电子政务环境下国际IT治理框架比较研究

近年来,国际上掀起了IT治理研究的热潮。早期IT治理的主体主要为私营部门,研究偏向于IT治理的实践。随着电子政务推进,IT治理的理念被公共部门所接受,尤其在电子政务中的跨部门合作,IT治理的积极作用逐渐显现出来。本文对目前国际应用比较广泛的多个IT治理模型进行比较性研究,分析已有的治理框架的侧重点和优势,认为组织的IT治理框架需要规避单一化,应从组织需要的特定重点或动力,综合选择适合组织的框架。     

Business-IT Alignment: A practical research approach

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of Business-Information Technology Alignment, or BIA, on organizations and to revisit the BIA antecedents by using data from hotel sector of the service industry.The research model was developed based on the literature and inputs from the hotel industry and IT experts, using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique in data analysis, and data from phone interviews that were conducted with both business and IT personnel from 3 to 5 star hotels in Thailand.We found that Business-IT Alignment does have a positive relationship with organizational performance. Shared domain knowledge was found to have the highest relationship with Business-IT Alignment while IT management sophistication had the least impact, but in a negative direction, while organizational size was found to be a moderator. Other BIA antecedents were effective communication, IT operational and implementation success, and planning sophistication.This study developed a model that integrates the alignment between the strategic and operational levels which offers a holistic view of BIA, different from previous studies that considered only one or the other level. Secondly, we cross verify the antecedents from the literature and actual practice by interviewing experts in the industry. Finally, we revisited measurements and relationships among the constructs so that the model is up-to-date and applicable to the current business environment.     

Applicability of public sector reform initiatives of the Yemeni government from the integrated TOE-DOI framework

Effective resource allocation and accountability are critical for public services in countries facing a crisis, to ensure minimum inequality and even save lives. Administrative innovation is introduced as public sector reform to improve the performance and accountability of public sector organizations. Despite the said benefit, little has been done to study public administrative innovation in countries under crisis. This study extends the literature by examining the attitude of civil service managers to the administrative innovation in the Yemeni government representing a country in crisis from an integrated perspective of technology-organization-environment (TOE) and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory. Data was collected from a survey of 200 civil service managers of the Yemeni central government. The result shows that the attitude of managers to private sector management style is scored the highest representing the key tool of the public administrative innovation. On the other hand, the downsizing elements were ranked the least significant as public sector reform elements. The explanatory model highlights the use of information technology, quality of human resources, and budget management orientation as significant factors for the applicability of public administrative innovation in the Yemeni central government.     

Moderating role of enterprise social media use in work engagement

Enterprise social media (ESM) enables employees to participate in both work- and nonwork-related (social and hedonic) activities during working hours, providing possibility of it to be an information technology (IT)-based intervention for employees’ work engagement. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we develop a research model to examine the moderating roles of work- and nonwork-related ESM use in the relationship between work stressors (i.e., challenge stressors and hindrance stressors) and work engagement. The research model was tested using 1104 valid responses collected through an online questionnaire in China, and the empirical results indicate the following: (1) challenge stressors are positively associated with work engagement while hindrance stressors are negatively associated with work engagement; (2) the relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moderation of work-related ESM use but shows an inverted U-shaped effect under the moderation of nonwork-related ESM use; and (3) the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement also exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moderation of nonwork-related ESM use. This study contributes to the JD-R model and literature on ESM use and work engagement interventions. Our findings also inform mangers about leveraging ESM for enhancing employees’ work engagement.     

Performance of an internet of things project in the public sector: The case of Nice smart city

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides a lot of possibilities to develop IT projects that offer to the citizens platform of services for better conditions of living and transporting. Our study contributes to the topical subject of smart cities analysing the performance of an IoT-platform based solution. It evaluates if an IoT platform project can achieve business, environmental and social objectives all together. We select and test a project developed in Nice (France) where 5.000+ sensors are deployed on parking slots to improve the urban transport. The benefits of the IT project are determined comparing data extracting from Nice and compared with two other similar cities (Marseille and Toulon) which play the role of control group. The analysis of the value creation and value capture suggest a governance model for a private and public collaboration. Our findings help public managers to understand better private-public partnership and then prepare the future cities development.     

企业IT项目控制模式对绩效的影响研究

成功控制IT项目一直是项目经理和用户关注的热点。在国内128家企业IT项目调查的基础上,从项目经理和用户代表的角度建立四种控制模式(行为、结果、价值观和自我控制)对IT项目绩效的影响模型,并通过实证分析比较各种控制模式对绩效的有效作用。结果表明在控制模式对绩效的作用上,项目经理和用户的看法存在相同点和不同点。二者均认为通过加强结果控制和价值观控制能有效提高过程绩效,同时过程绩效的提高有助于产品绩效的提升,但自我控制的作用不明显。不同的是,项目经理认为结果控制比行为控制更能促进过程绩效的提升,而用户认为结果控制和行为控制对于绩效的提升不存在显著差异。     

Digitally enabled service transformation in UK public sector: A case analysis of universal credit

The race against ‘Digital Darwinism’ in public sector had caused failures of several high profile large-scale Digitally Enabled Service Transformation (DEST) projects. While technical and managerial issues are often emphasised as the factors underpinning such failures, the vital role of key actors and the interplay between these actors and structures is underplayed when examining the causes of DEST failure. To enable a richer understanding of DEST, this paper proposes an analytical lens combining Institutional Theory (IT) and Structuration Theory (ST) to explore the case of ‘Universal Credit’, a very large and ambitious DEST project in the UK. Analysis reveals that the institutional actors and structures played significant roles in the transformation process. Albeit governing the actors’ actions, institutional structures are shaped through actions that are influenced by knowledge, power and norms. Hence, recognising and addressing these subliminal factors are critical to promote actions that can facilitate DEST success. The contributions of this case study are two-folds. Theoretically, it provides a distinctive conceptual approach to study DEST; and practically, the lessons help in signposting better managerial practices.     

Framing improvements of public innovation in a living lab context: Processual learning,restrained space and democratic engagement

Public innovation has received increasing attention in recent years. Experiments with new governance structures, such as New Public Management and New Public Governance, have challenged the traditional top-down, internally driven forms of innovation in the public sector and have entailed a search for new forms of open, collaborative and interactive innovation, implying a reframing of public innovation activities. However, introducing these new frames of innovation causes uncertainties in the public sector, necessitating better understanding of how public innovation can be changed to address societal needs. This paper uses materials from case studies of 21 public living labs across Europe to analyse the lessons that can be learned from public sector participation in living labs in terms of their contribution to reframing public innovation. The “frame” construct is used to analyse and provide an understanding of how participation in living labs helps public actors to reframe innovation and address public and societal needs. Three living lab framings for changing public innovation are identified (processual learning, restrained space and democratic engagement), and the degree of intensity of these framings with respect to involving stakeholders and addressing societal challenges is discussed. The paper contributes to knowledge of public sector innovation by extending previous accounts of how public innovation can be improved.