Process as Theory in Information Systems Research

Many researchers have searched for evidence of organizational improvements from the huge sums invested in ICT. Unfortunately, evidence for such a pay back is spotty at best (e.g., Brynjolfsson 1994; Brynjolfsson and Hitt 1998; Meyer and Gupta 1994). On the other hand, at the individual level, computing and communication technologies are increasingly merging into work in ways that make it impossible to separate the two (e.g., Bridges 1995; Gasser 1986; Zuboff 198). This problem--usually referred to as the productivity paradox--is an example of a more pervasive issue: linking phenomena and theories from different levels of analysis. Organizational processes provide a bridge between individual, organizational, and even industrial level impacts of information and communication technologies (ICT). Viewing a process as the way organizations accomplish desired goals and transform inputs into outputs makes the link to organizational outcomes. Viewing processes as ordered collections of activi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: IFIP
• Authors: Kevin Crowston
• Keywords: Communication Technologies, IFIP 2000, Individual Work, Organizational Outcomes, Programming Languages