What is it about?
This paper explores information technology (IT) implementation from an IT culture perspective. IT culture is the attitudes and beilefs that people hold towards technology. We revealed the development of three different IT cultures – embracing, confused and complaining, during the implementation of a Management Information System in a National Bank and explain how these IT cultures influenced the IT project outcome.
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Why is it important?
This paper extends the IT culture perspective by illustrating how a harmonious relationship between IT cultures and IT systems can be encouraged. The paper shows how diverse IT cultures can develop reasonably quickly in line with initial user experiences of a system. When IT cultures are aligned with the values embedded in IT, positive engagement and usage of the technology results strengthening the presence of embracing IT cultures. IT culture provides a new way of considering people's attitudes and beliefs towards IT that trancends organisations, departments and professional groups and may help IT managers provide more tailored interventions to increase the likelihood of IT project success.
Perspectives
Managers can take reassurance from our study’s findings that it is common for a range of IT cultures to emerge following the implementation of an IT. Some of these IT culture user groups may be positively inclined towards the new IT, but some may resist. However, so long as the IT is robust and reliable, even if some users do not recognise these attributes at the outset, IT managers can enact culture creep strategies to encourage users to transition from resisting IT cultures to embracing IT cultures. We hope IT managers find our study useful in providing more tailored interventions that are sensitive to the needs of different types of user.
Professor Crispin R Coombs
Loughborough University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Revisiting the trajectory of IT implementation in organisations: an IT culture perspective, Information Technology and People, August 2017, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/itp-09-2015-0217.
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