Business Technologies in Contemporary Organizations: Adoption, Assimilation, and Institutionalization 9781466666238, 9781466666245, 9781466666269

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Business Technologies in Contemporary Organizations: Adoption, Assimilation, and Institutionalization Abrar Haider University of South Australia, Australia

A volume in the Advances in Business Information Systems and Analytics (ABISA) Book Series

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Published in the United States of America by Business Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA, USA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2015 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Business technologies in contemporary organizations : adoption, assimilation, and institutionalization / Abrar Haider, editor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4666-6623-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) - ISBN 978-1-4666-6624-5 (ebook : alk. paper) - ISBN 978-1-46666626-9 (print : alk. paper) 1. Management information systems. 2. Information technology--Management. I. Haider, Abrar, 1969HD30.213.B88 2015 658.4’038--dc23 2014032315 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Advances in Business Information Systems and Analytics (ABISA) (ISSN: 2327-3275; eISSN: 2327-3283) British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. For electronic access to this publication, please contact: [email protected].

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Business Transformation and Sustainability through Cloud System Implementation Fawzy Soliman (The University of Technology, Australia) Business Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 300pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466664456) • US $200.00 (our price) Effects of IT on Enterprise Architecture, Governance, and Growth José Carlos Cavalcanti (Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil) Business Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 307pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466664692) • US $195.00 (our price) Technology, Innovation, and Enterprise Transformation Manish Wadhwa (Salem State University, USA) and Alan Harper (South University, USA) Business Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 378pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466664739) • US $195.00 (our price) Analytical Approaches to Strategic Decision-Making Interdisciplinary Considerations Madjid Tavana (La Salle University, USA) Business Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 417pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466659582) • US $225.00 (our price) Information Systems and Technology for Organizational Agility, Intelligence, and Resilience Hakikur Rahman (University of Minho, Portugal) and Rui Dinis de Sousa (University of Minho, Portugal) Business Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 355pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466659704) • US $235.00 (our price) ICT Management in Non-Profit Organizations José Antonio Ariza-Montes (Loyola Andalucia University, Spain) and Ana María Lucia-Casademunt (Loyola Andalucia University, Spain) Business Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 297pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466659742) • US $215.00 (our price) Security, Trust, and Regulatory Aspects of Cloud Computing in Business Environments S. Srinivasan (Texas Southern University, USA) Information Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 325pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466657885) • US $195.00 (our price) Remote Workforce Training Effective Technologies and Strategies Shalin Hai-Jew (Kansas State University, USA) Business Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 450pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466651371) • US $265.00 (our price) Approaches and Processes for Managing the Economics of Information Systems Theodosios Tsiakis (Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece) Theodoros Kargidis (Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece) and Panagiotis Katsaros (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) Business Science Reference • copyright 2014 • 449pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466649835) • US $190.00 (our price)

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To my father, who came a long way from humble and unlikely beginnings.

At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom and in dignity. For everybody. We have to make common cause, and to do this we need to understand how this big old machine works — who it works for and who it works against. Who pays, who profits. - Arundhati Roy, How Deep Shall We Dig?

Editorial Advisory Board Gordon Hunter, University of Lethbridge, Canada Gerald Qurichmayr, University of Vienna, Austria Mohini Singh, RMIT University, Australia Savanid Vatanasakdakul, Macquarie University, Australia

List of Reviewers Jongchang Ahn, Hanyang University, South Korea Ku Maisuah Ku Bahador, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Yohan DeSilva, University of South Australia, Australia Hung-Chun Huang, National Chi Nan University, Taiwan Muhammad Kamal, Brunel University, UK Sandhu Kamaljeet, University of New England, Australia Sang Huyn Lee, University of South Australia, Australia Trevene Leonard, Deloitte, Australia Glenn Murphy, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Hussain Raheem, Accenture, USA Venkat Reddy, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Wan Satirah Wan Mohd Saman, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Alan Tam, Monash University, Australia William Yeoh, Deakin University, Australia

Table of Contents

Foreword.............................................................................................................................................. xvi Preface................................................................................................................................................xviii Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................... xxiv Section 1 Conceptual Foundations Chapter 1 Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation: The Potential Contribution of Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power............................................................................................................... 1 Michelle Ye, University of Tasmania, Australia Peter Marshall, University of Tasmania, Australia Judy McKay, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Kristy de Salas, University of Tasmania, Australia Chapter 2 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing.................................................................... 30 Yuan Li, Columbia College, USA Kuo-Chung Chang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan Chapter 3 Technology Institutionalisation through Technological, Organisational, and Environmental Isomorphism.......................................................................................................................................... 54 Azadeh Pishdad, University of South Australia, Australia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Section 2 Issues and Challenges Chapter 4 Telework: Not Business as Usual........................................................................................................... 76 Yvette Blount, Macquarie University, Australia

Chapter 5 Cloud Adoption in Enterprises: Security Issues and Strategies............................................................. 96 Ramanathan Venkatraman, National University of Singapore, Singapore Sitalakshmi Venkatraman, NMIT, Australia Chapter 6 Skillset to Assimilate Information Technologies in Accounting SMEs.............................................. 122 Ku Maisurah Ku Bahador, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Chapter 7 Legal and Organisational Issues in Courtroom Technology Implementation and Institutionalization............................................................................................................................... 155 Wan Satirah Wan Mohd Saman, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Chapter 8 Implementing Business Intelligence in Contemporary Organizations................................................ 177 Kijpokin Kasemsap, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Thailand Section 3 Case Studies Chapter 9 The Diffusion and Adoption of a Cloud-Based Enterprise System in Danish Municipalities............. 194 Jakob Frisenvang, Capgemini Sogeti, Denmark Christoffer Ejerskov Pedersen, Capgemini Sogeti, Denmark Per Svejvig, Aarhus University, Denmark Chapter 10 Exploring Physicians’ Resistance to Using Mobile Devices: A Hospital Case Study........................ 210 Paola A. Gonzalez, Dalhousie University, Canada Yolande E. Chan, Queen’s University, Canada Chapter 11 Why Are Filipino Consumers Strong Adopters of Mobile Applications?........................................... 236 Donald L. Amoroso, Auburn University – Montgomery, USA Ricardo Lim, Asian Institute of Management, Philippines Chapter 12 Citizens’ Voice and Adoption of Pakistani E-Government Services................................................... 246 Muhammad Ovais Ahmad, University of Oulu, Finland Jouni Markkula, University of Oulu, Finland Markku Oivo, University of Oulu, Finland

Chapter 13 E-Government Adoption and Implementation in Oman: A Government Perspective......................... 263 Qasim Al-Mamari, Sohar College of Applied Sciences, Oman Brian Corbitt, RMIT University, Australia Victor Gekara, RMIT University, Australia Chapter 14 Design and Implementation of PropertySafety: A Wireless Sensor-Based Solution for Safety Management of Vacant Properties....................................................................................................... 288 Muhammad Arslan, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Zainab Riaz, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Adnan Khalid Kiani, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Chapter 15 IT Governance Institutionalisation: A Case of Thai Hospital............................................................. 306 Sureerat Saetang, University of South Australia, Australia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 338 About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 380 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 387

Detailed Table of Contents

Foreword.............................................................................................................................................. xvi Preface................................................................................................................................................xviii Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................... xxiv Section 1 Conceptual Foundations Chapter 1 Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation: The Potential Contribution of Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power............................................................................................................... 1 Michelle Ye, University of Tasmania, Australia Peter Marshall, University of Tasmania, Australia Judy McKay, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Kristy de Salas, University of Tasmania, Australia This chapter critically reviews the literature on power relations in information systems implementation projects. IS projects redistribute information and power in organizations and are thus implicated in both project progress and ultimately project success. The review firstly considers the ideas of Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes, and Latour, as these are the most established and prominent theories in the major IS papers on power. This chapter argues for a consideration of a new theory of power and social influence from social psychology deemed suitable for use in IS research. The ideas of this theory have not yet been examined empirically in IS studies of power relations in IS implementations but arguably offer an important opportunity for IS researchers. Chapter 2 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing.................................................................... 30 Yuan Li, Columbia College, USA Kuo-Chung Chang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan This chapter examines factors that influence individual adoption of cloud computing measured by the intentions to use cloud computing for personal needs. Drawing upon the cloud computing and online service literature, it recognizes eleven antecedents to individual intentions to use cloud computing. An empirical test on undergraduate and graduate students shows that of these antecedents a person’s attitude toward cloud computing, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and perceived usefulness have

direct impacts on intentions, while other antecedents, including perceived ease of use, transferability of computer skills, vendor reputation, perceived risks, privacy concerns, security concerns, and concerns about vendor lock-in, have indirect impacts. The study expands the view on cloud computing adoption among individual users with a multiplicity of factors and an integrative framework, and it also highlights the tradeoffs between benefits and risks in adoption decisions. Chapter 3 Technology Institutionalisation through Technological, Organisational, and Environmental Isomorphism.......................................................................................................................................... 54 Azadeh Pishdad, University of South Australia, Australia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Implementation and assimilation of information systems need to be culturally, organisationally, and technologically composed such that their use becomes routinized and institutionalised, and embedded with the business’s work processes and routines. This chapter argues that use of technology is shaped through mutual interactions of various organisations’ internal as well as external sub-institutions, such as organisational culture, suppliers, competitors, technology characteristics, customers, government rules, and industry norms. This study demonstrates that institutionalisation of technology occurs through conformance with environmental, organisational, and technological institutional mechanisms, whereby organisations seek legitimacy, efficiency, performance, and success within their operating environment. Section 2 Issues and Challenges Chapter 4 Telework: Not Business as Usual........................................................................................................... 76 Yvette Blount, Macquarie University, Australia This chapter examines the technology, human resource management, and service quality issues that inhibit and/or support managers and employees in adopting sustainable telework programs using data from two Australian case studies. The Telework Conceptual Framework developed in this chapter provides guidance for government policymakers and managers in organisations (SMEs, not-for-profit, and large organisations) on the choice of technology, human resource management considerations, and service quality issues relating to the sustainable adoption of telework. A business case for telework should include the components of technology, human resource management, and service quality (customer service) that will contribute to an organisation’s profitability. The contribution of telework to an organisation’s competitiveness is an important prerequisite for management to embrace telework and other flexible work practices. Chapter 5 Cloud Adoption in Enterprises: Security Issues and Strategies............................................................. 96 Ramanathan Venkatraman, National University of Singapore, Singapore Sitalakshmi Venkatraman, NMIT, Australia This chapter proposes a security and migration framework with business strategic implementation guidelines for successfully adopting cloud services, namely Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in contemporary organisations. As a foundation to achieve this, the authors give emphasis to the importance of considering the security, privacy, and governance

issues related to cloud implementations, along with the possible benefits of adopting cloud services in businesses. They discuss the various types of cloud, their deployment models, and service levels as these form the basis for strategically planning the security and migration framework implementation of cloud in an organization. In addition, the authors provide a step-wise security and migration framework that could serve as a business strategic guideline for a successful cloud service adoption in enterprises. Chapter 6 Skillset to Assimilate Information Technologies in Accounting SMEs.............................................. 122 Ku Maisurah Ku Bahador, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Competence in operating IT on one hand aids the routine business activities related to an accountants’ work and on the other helps them create an environment where these technologies operate at their optimum level for the strategic internal and external advantage of the business. Recent studies indicate that accounting businesses are now customer-oriented, information-driven, project-based, flatter in structure, and consist of a number of functional and cross-functional teams. An all-encompassing skill set for accountants is therefore required, which not only caters for IT skills but also accounts for organisational, human, and interpersonal skills. This chapter presents an empirically tested integrated framework for competency development consisting of technical, organisational, people, and conceptual skill dimensions. This framework focuses on technical skills and calls for skills in areas that complement technical knowledge, so as to institutionalise competency development as an ongoing activity of an accountant’s professional lifecycle. Chapter 7 Legal and Organisational Issues in Courtroom Technology Implementation and Institutionalization............................................................................................................................... 155 Wan Satirah Wan Mohd Saman, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Information technologies in courtrooms have served systematic and speedy justice dispensation since the start of the last decade. They brought forward significant changes to court operation around the world. However, during this period a variety of technology implementation and institutionalisation issues also surfaced. This chapter aims to discuss the legal and organisational issues by focusing on the case of Malaysian courts. It is advanced with the presentation of growing phenomenon of courtroom technology implementation and institutionalisation in a big picture, followed by the current scenario of the case of technology implementation projects in Malaysian courts, the E-Court, and E-Shariah. This chapter also discusses the different perspectives in technology institutionalization through a five-step technology implementation/institutionalisation process. Chapter 8 Implementing Business Intelligence in Contemporary Organizations................................................ 177 Kijpokin Kasemsap, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Thailand This chapter introduces the implementation of Business Intelligence (BI), thus explaining the application overview of BI, the components of BI, the practical implementation of BI, the business value of BI, the trends in implementing BI, and the guidelines for implementing BI. BI is a broad category of business applications and technologies for gathering, providing access to, and analyzing data for the purpose of helping business enterprise users make better business decisions. BI enlarges business performance, thus

leading to higher level of efficiency, better quality outputs, better marketing decisions, and lessened risk of business failure in order to gain a competitive advantage in the global business environments. It is important to create and develop a BI system to enable the useful transformation of information into the valuable knowledge for enhancing BI in organizations. Implementing BI will increase organizational performance and achieve business goals in modern business. Section 3 Case Studies Chapter 9 The Diffusion and Adoption of a Cloud-Based Enterprise System in Danish Municipalities............. 194 Jakob Frisenvang, Capgemini Sogeti, Denmark Christoffer Ejerskov Pedersen, Capgemini Sogeti, Denmark Per Svejvig, Aarhus University, Denmark This chapter addresses how Opus, a modified SAP solution delivered as a cloud solution, is interpreted, diffused, and adopted by Danish municipalities. The chapter is based on a theoretical framework using the organizing vision and diffusion of innovation theories. The authors study four Danish municipalities and the vendor of the Opus solution. They tell the history of Opus and analyze how it has diffused into Danish municipalities. The findings are that the diffusion is strongly influenced by regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pressures. Institutional processes play an essential part in the early and late diffusion of IS innovations and in the creation and evolution of an organizing vision such as Opus for Danish municipalities. The authors conclude the chapter with a discussion of how Opus as a technology could be categorized and follow this with future research directions. Chapter 10 Exploring Physicians’ Resistance to Using Mobile Devices: A Hospital Case Study........................ 210 Paola A. Gonzalez, Dalhousie University, Canada Yolande E. Chan, Queen’s University, Canada Mobile communication technology is emerging as an area of major importance in healthcare. By enabling ubiquitous real-time access to patient information and state-of-the-art medical knowledge, this technology has the potential to support the integration of health records, the practice of evidence-based medicine, and to improve productivity among provider organizations. However, its adoption and implementation have faced many challenges; an important one has been users’ resistance. For instance, many physicians are still reluctant to embed these technologies in their medical practices. This chapter, hence, explores factors that influence this resistance to using mobile devices, thereby hindering the potential benefits that these technologies can bring to healthcare. Specifically, the authors present the results of an empirical study conducted at a local hospital where two mobile technologies were examined. The findings highlight several important factors that, if not addressed in healthcare settings, can result in user resistance to the implementation of this technology.

Chapter 11 Why Are Filipino Consumers Strong Adopters of Mobile Applications?........................................... 236 Donald L. Amoroso, Auburn University – Montgomery, USA Ricardo Lim, Asian Institute of Management, Philippines In this chapter, the authors study factors such as ease of use and personal innovativeness in order to understand the consumer adoption of mobile technologies in the Philippines in order to build on existing adoption theories for academics and make recommendations to practitioners. The research questions include: (1) What key factors drive adoption of mobile technologies by Filipino consumers? (2) How are Filipino mobile consumers personally innovative in their use of mobile technologies? The authors surveyed 725 mobile Filipino consumers. The resulting linear regression model shows a significant amount of variance explained for behavioral intention to use mobile applications. Personal innovation had a strong statistical impact on both attitude toward using and behavioral intention to use. Chapter 12 Citizens’ Voice and Adoption of Pakistani E-Government Services................................................... 246 Muhammad Ovais Ahmad, University of Oulu, Finland Jouni Markkula, University of Oulu, Finland Markku Oivo, University of Oulu, Finland Even though there is emerging literature on e-government, research focused on potential problems related to citizens’ adoption of e-government services in developing countries is still limited. As a developing country, e-government services in Pakistan have witnessed prolific advancements over the years. Since 2002, Pakistan has strategically adopted e-government as a part of its policy. In this chapter, the factors influencing citizens’ e-government service adoption in Pakistan are examined using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model. The findings indicate that, in addition to the lack of awareness and data privacy, all of the factors specified by the model have an effect on the adoption of these services in Pakistan. The empirical results highlight the voice of citizens concerning the usage of the services. This information can be used by the policy and decision makers to promote services that correspond better to the needs of the citizens. Chapter 13 E-Government Adoption and Implementation in Oman: A Government Perspective......................... 263 Qasim Al-Mamari, Sohar College of Applied Sciences, Oman Brian Corbitt, RMIT University, Australia Victor Gekara, RMIT University, Australia This chapter reports a description and analysis of the factors that influenced the process of adoption and implementation of the e-Government initiative in Oman over the period 2000 – 2013. This research provides an explanation of why government organisations in Oman developed and then adopted e-Government projects, and how that affected their success as an example of what might also be the case in many developing countries. Using the concept of institutional decoupling, this research presents a framework that offers a new understanding of the observed high failure rate of e-Government implementation in many developing countries. In terms of practical contributions, this research concludes important lessons with regard to synchronising motivating factors with institutional, technological and organisational prerequisites, and expected outcomes.

Chapter 14 Design and Implementation of PropertySafety: A Wireless Sensor-Based Solution for Safety Management of Vacant Properties....................................................................................................... 288 Muhammad Arslan, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Zainab Riaz, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Adnan Khalid Kiani, National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan Each year millions of dollars are spent for the prevention of flooding, fire, and burglaries in vacant properties. Keeping a vacant property secure is the most important aspect in preventing damage and one of the most crucial tasks for property owners and facility managers. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an emerging technology platform that has the potential to be explored in safety-planning solutions for vacant properties. In an attempt to reduce vacant property hazards, this chapter reports upon an integrated system architecture that utilizes BIM and wireless sensor technology to produce a proactive safety and emergency management system entitled PropertySafety. The proposed solution collects real-time temperature, activity, and water detection data remotely; notifies property owners and facility managers through effective visualizations of a building using the BIM platform; and ultimately attempts to contribute in reducing property hazards during the facility management phase of a building lifecycle. Chapter 15 IT Governance Institutionalisation: A Case of Thai Hospital............................................................. 306 Sureerat Saetang, University of South Australia, Australia Abrar Haider, University of South Australia, Australia Information technology infrastructure in contemporary large-sized service organisations is growing exponentially in terms of purpose, kind, scope, and complexity. As a result, these organisations are adopting a variety of information technology governance practices to achieve sustained levels of service to meet organisational goals and objectives. This chapter presents a case study of information technology governance in a hospital. It shows that information technology governance practices need to be institutionalised in the social, cultural, technical, and structural environment to produce the desired organisational behavior of responsibility and accountability. It highlights the key success factors that have led to successful assimilation of these practices with business processes, job functions, and workflows in the case organization. This study, thus, expands the theoretical and practical views on implementation of information technology governance. Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 338 About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 380 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 387

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Foreword

Adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of new and advanced technologies, as well as technologybased services in contemporary organisations are key to innovation, competitive advantage, and globalisation. Technology adoption and implementation is a well-planned, step-by-step process, addressing issues of technology, management, organisation structures, people, theories, enterprise architectures, and performance evaluation. Too much emphasis on technology alone results in misaligned technology and strategy leading to organisations having to incur additional costs for institutionalisation of technology. As a consequence they are not able to achieve the anticipated benefits and returns on investment. An all-encompassing approach to technology adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation is required for harnessing the power of breakthrough technology in small, medium, and in large organisations. Dr. Abrar Haider has researched and widely published on the topic of adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of new and evolving technologies in organisations. In this book, Dr. Haider very effectively combines a complex set of technology assimilation and institutionalisation topics relevant to organisations of all sizes operating in different regions of the world. This book entails research-based evidence, case studies, and implications of research on technologies in organisations. It provides an excellent applied perspective for technology managers and researchers to understand and address issues relating to theory, adoption of new technologies, such as the “cloud,” mobile and personal information systems, institutionalisation of technology-based services, such as e-government and business intelligence, and emergent areas of automation, such as courts of law and infrastructure condition monitoring. This book also highlights issues related with technology adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation, such as IT skill requirements, security, as well outcomes of technology adoption, such as telework. Dr. Haider provides in this book an intelligible and synthesised set of chapters from scholars around the world, making it a must-read scholarly publication. It is a high-quality learning and reference resource on technology adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation. Mohini Singh RMIT University, Australia

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Mohini Singh is Professor of Information Systems at RMIT University in Australia. She earned her PhD from Monash University on Technology Management with a focus on implementation and diffusion of technology in organisations. She has published widely in the areas of e-business, e-government, and new technology and innovation management. She is the principal editor of 2 highly regarded books on e-business, several journals, and author of Information and Communication Technology Programs in E-Government and E-Learning, as well as over 100 scholarly papers. Her publications comprise books, book chapters, and journal and conference papers. She serves as a member on the editorial boards of a number of journals and international conference organizing committees. The focus of her current research is on organisational use of Web 2.0 (social media), IT management, mobile technologies, and big data management.

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Preface

In contemporary business paradigm, organisations compete for political power, institutional legitimacy, and social and economic fitness. These organisations mature through their interactions with various forces in their operating environment, the rules and norms imposed on them, the behaviours of their internal systems, and the cognitive patterns of the organisation, as well as the organisational members. An organisation as an institution evolves through the mutual interactions of various organisational subinstitutions. Information technologies work as the binding factor that integrates these sub-institutions and give the organisations technical, social, cultural, and organisational legitimacy. This form and legitimacy, in turn, defines how organisations evolve technically, financially, structurally, and culturally. This book focuses on research that explains the reciprocal relationship between technology and organisations and the intended and unintended impacts that this relationships creates. Technology implementation is the organizational effort to diffuse and appropriate technology within the user community. This user community has some aspirations attached to the use of technology, which characterise the values and interests of various social, political, and organizational agents. Effectiveness of technology implementation and adoption, therefore, is subjective to prevailing operating environment and the social and cultural context of the organisation. However, technology implementation is not a one-off incident of its endorsement within the organisational environment; in fact, it is a continuing process of learning aimed at the evolving use of technology shaped and reshaped by the interaction of technology with the changing operating environment. Contemporary business organisations, however, are more concerned about the physical implementation of technology rather than the factors and the causes and effects that help shape the use of technology in the organisation. As a result, technology implementation is seen as a non-strategic activity aimed at providing a quick-fix solution to information management and exploitation and process automation issues of the organisation. Business technologies in general and information systems in particular, however, are social systems and play an integral role in the organisational effort towards evolution of its structures, culture, and operations. Technology implementers should, therefore, not aim at “adaptive” fixing of the organisation’s information and automation issues; instead, they should aim at the institutionalisation of technology within the operating environment to maintain legitimacy, power, and social and economic fitness of the business on an ongoing basis. The way technology is implemented and adopted provides the foundations for technology institutionalisation in the organisation. Technology implementation and adoption, however, is governed by two quite opposing views. In a technology-driven view, humans are considered passive entities, whose behaviour is determined by technology. It is argued that technology development follows a casual logic between humans and technology and therefore is independent of its designers and users. This mechanistic view assumes that human behaviour can be predicted, and therefore, technology can be developed and

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produced perfectly with an intended purpose. This view may hold true for objective systems, such as microcontrollers, which have a determined behaviour, but for information systems this view is limiting due to its disregard of human and contextual elements. A corollary to this objective view is the managerial assumption that information systems implementation always increases productivity and profitability. This view is based on the notion that social and organisational transformation is measurable and therefore can be predicted. Consequently, management decisions are governed by the expectations from technology rather than the means that enable technology to deliver the expectations. The opposing stance to the traditional technical view is liberating and takes a critical scrutiny of the deterministic technological and managerial views of the relationship of technology with human, organisational, and social dimensions of an organisation. This view illustrates that technology has an active relationship with humans, who are the constructors and shapers of technology use in the organisation. Technology users, therefore, are active rather than passive entities, and their social behaviour, mutual interaction, and technology use continuously influences the overall context of the organisation. Organisational evolution through this influence is not a linear process and represents intertwined multifaceted relations between technology and sub-organisational institutions, which makes organisational behaviour highly unpredictable. As a result, there is growing recognition among contemporary business organisations that technology implementation in general and information systems implementation in particular, strategic translation through accomplishment of social action, and technological maturity in an organisation is being viewed as an outcome of strategic choices and social action. Technology implementation and adoption theories can be classified into three broad categories (i.e. technology determinism [such as information processing, task technology fit, and agency theory], sociotechnical interactions [such as actor network theory, socio-technical theory, and contingency theory], and organisational imperatives [such as strategic competitiveness, resource-based view theory, and dynamic capabilities theory]). Technology deterministic theories adopt a mechanistic view of organisations where technology is applied to bring about desired results. Technology determinists believe that technology is the prime enabler of change and, therefore, is the fundamental condition that is essential to shape the structure or pattern of an organization. Technology determinism argues that social and cultural shaping of an organisation is characterised by technology and has minimum or no influence from human and social aspects. Karl Marx is often cited as one of the earlier determinists, with his statements like “windmill gives society with the feudal lord: the steam-mill, with the industrial capitalist.” Technology determinism, however, embodies two different principles. The first principle states that technology development follows a progressive path, one in which older technology is replaced with new technology, and denying this progression is to intervene in the natural order. The second view argues that technologies act on social interactions in a predictable way. Having its origin in research focusing on rationality of technology, technological determinism therefore calls for implementation of technology to bring about foreseeable changes. Organisational imperative theories focus on the relationships between the environment that the business operates in, business strategies and strategic orientation, and the technology management strategies to achieve desired objectives. The fundamental postulation of this perspective is that strategic planning is the key to organisational effectiveness and efficiency. It argues that management has unrestricted control over choice of technology and can, therefore, control the impacts of its application in the organisation. A business organization can thus be viewed as a brain that induces fragmentation, routinization, and binding of decision-making practices, which make it a manageable system. These theories follow a top-down approach and generally represent activities such as formulation of an information policy aligned with

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the business strategy, followed by the information architecture that is designed to cater to the business needs. This architecture becomes the foundation of technology strategy, thereby providing a roadmap of technology development and implementation. In summary, consideration given to technology planning in organisational imperative theories outclasses technology implementation. Socio-technical theories are focused on the interaction of technology with the social context of the organisation and aim at fashioning these interactions to produce desired objectives. These theories stress the importance of social choices in implementation of technology within a particular context by employing participative techniques. Socio-technical theorists regard business technologies as social systems, where their use is shaped by the people with varying interests. These theorists, thus, argue that human, organisational, and social factors have a direct relationship with technology. These views focus on the change that takes place in response to technology implementation, through the interaction of various actors within the organizational context that shape and reshape technology use. The underlying assumption of this approach dictates that success of technology implementation cannot be predetermined or predefined; it depends upon the way different social and human variables react to technology adoption within the context of the organization. The socio-technical approaches focus on the way technology-enabled processes are managed at the local level, which requires line managers to be aware of the organisational capabilities and constraints, so as to fashion the use of technology within these conditions. Nevertheless, even though the relationships between technology and the context may be well established and tested in organisational and socio-economic settings, the emergent and unpredictable nature of human action may change the development, requisition, and institutionalisation of technology. Regardless of the approach, technology implementation is a continuous process aimed at organisational learning through alignment between the organization’s strategy and diffusion and application of technology within the organisation, guided by the value profile that stakeholders attach to implementation and is shaped by the organizational context and actors. The degree of technology absorption or assimilation within the organisational context is influenced by the technological, organisational, and environmental context, such as organisation structure and size, culture, degree of specialization, centralization, and formalization, and users’ attitudes towards technology. Technology appropriation and assimilation, thus, depends on how effectively it becomes a part of the organisational routines and is embedded with the job descriptions of employees. Technology institutionalisation is characterized by its continuous interfacing with organisational, technical, social, cultural, environmental, political, and other institutional factors. Institutionalisation is achieved when technology becomes deeply ingrained in the organisation’s operational and cultural environment, such that its use is taken for granted to ensure smooth functioning of the business. This leads to acceptance of technology use as an order of settled behaviours or norms approved by all members of the organisation. Use of technology, thus, evolves continuously and helps the various sub-institutions of the organisation grow and mature in sync with each other. This book brings together theories, practices, developments, and challenges in adoption, diffusion, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies. It is a significant representation of highquality theoretical and empirical research aimed at advancing our understanding of contemporary business technologies. This book addresses a wide audience. It is particularly useful for business managers and practitioners and researchers interested in the field of technology implementation, assimilation, and institutionalisation. It provides comprehensive coverage of issues, theories, and discussions on the subject for researchers investigating the role of technology in organisational evolution and maturity,and researchers and coursework students specializing in technology diffusion and adoption, social shaping of technology, business-enabling technologies, and organisational information systems.

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This book is a peer-reviewed publication, where each chapter has been blind reviewed by at least two reviewers. It has 15 chapters and is divided into three sections. The first section includes three chapters and discusses conceptual foundations of adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of technologies in business organisations. The second section comprises five chapters and offers a selection of seminal issues and challenges that contemporary organisations are facing in emergent business paradigm with regards to adoption and assimilation of enabling technologies. The third section has seven chapters and presents case studies that cover various aspects of adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies.

SECTION 1: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS This section has three chapters, which provide insights into theories relating to adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies. The first chapter of this section is titled, “Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation: The Potential Contribution of Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power.” It discusses power relations in technology implementation projects in the light of previous research carried out by Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes, and Latour. It argues the importance of these relations and asserts that technology implementation projects redistribute information and power in organizations and are thus implicated in both project progress and ultimately project success. This chapter calls for consideration of a new theory of power and social influence from social psychology for information systems implementation research. In the next chapter, “Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing,” factors that influence individual adoption of cloud computing, measured by the intentions to use cloud computing for personal needs are examined. Drawing upon the cloud computing and online service literature, it recognizes 11 antecedents to individual intentions to use cloud computing. The study expands the view on cloud computing adoption among individual users with a multiplicity of factors and an integrative framework and highlights the tradeoffs between benefits and risks in adoption decisions. The third chapter in this section, “Technology Institutionalisation through Technological, Organisational, and Environmental Isomorphism,” posits that implementation and assimilation of information systems need to be culturally, organisationally, and technologically composed, such that their use becomes routinized and institutionalised and embedded with the business’s work processes and routines. It argues that institutionalisation of technology occurs through conformance with environmental, organisational, and technological institutional mechanisms, whereby organisations seek legitimacy, efficiency, performance, and success within their operating environment.

SECTION 2: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES This section features five chapters highlighting various issues and challenges of adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies in contemporary organisations. The first chapter in this section is titled “Telework: Not Business as Usual.” examines the technology, human resource management, and service quality issues that inhibit and/or support managers and employees in adopting sustainable telework programs using data from two Australian case studies. The Telework Conceptual Framework developed in this chapter provides guidance for government policymakers and managers in organisations on the choice of technology, human resource management considerations, and service quality issues relating to the sustainable adoption of telework.

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The next chapter, “Cloud Adoption in Enterprises: Security Issues and Strategies,” proposes a security and migration framework with business strategic implementation guidelines for successfully adopting cloud services in contemporary organisations. It also discusses the importance of considering the security, privacy, and governance issues related to cloud implementations, along with the possible benefits of adopting cloud services in businesses. In the third chapter in this section, “Skillset to Assimilate Information Technologies in Accounting SMEs,” a case for competencies in operating information technologies is discussed. This study proposes a model of competencies required to assimilate information technologies among accountants in small- to medium-sized enterprises. It explains how the four dimensions, namely technical skills, organisational skills, people skills, and conceptual skills are interlinked and influence each other. The fourth chapter in Section 2 is titled, “Legal and Organisational Issues in Courtroom Technology Implementation and Institutionalization.” It discusses the legal and organisational issues that influence implementation and institutionalisation of technologies in courts. This chapter discusses different perspectives in technology institutionalisation through a five-step technology implementation process. The last chapter in this section, “Implementing Business Intelligence in Contemporary Organizations,” explains various dimensions of Business Intelligence (BI) implementation. In doing so, it uncovers business value of BI, trends in implementing BI, and practical guidelines for implementing BI. It argues the importance of implementing BI systems to enable useful transformation of information into valuable knowledge to increase organizational performance.

SECTION 3: CASE STUDIES This section presents seven chapters, each discussing a case study relating to different aspects of technology adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies. The first chapter in this section is titled, “The Diffusion and Adoption of a Cloud-Based Enterprise System in Danish Municipalities.” It addresses how Opus (a modified SAP solution delivered as a cloud solution) is interpreted, diffused, and adopted by Danish municipalities. It is based on a theoretical framework using the organizing vision and diffusion of innovation theories. The study concludes that diffusion is strongly influenced by regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pressures. Institutional processes play an essential part in the early and late diffusion of information systems innovations and in the creation and evolution of an organizing vision such as Opus for Danish municipalities. The second chapter in this section, “Exploring Physicians’ Resistance to Using Mobile Devices: A Hospital Case Study,” explores factors that influence resistance to using mobile devices, thereby hindering the potential benefits that these technologies can bring to healthcare. It presents the results of an empirical study conducted at a Canadian hospital where two mobile technologies were examined. The next chapter is titled, “Why are Filipino Consumers Strong Adopters of Mobile Applications?” It studies factors such as ease of use and personal innovativeness in order to understand the consumer adoption of mobile technologies in the Philippines. The findings of this study show a significant amount of variance explained for behavioral intention to use mobile applications. This chapter concludes that personal innovation had a strong statistical impact on both attitude toward using and behavioral intention to use. The fourth chapter, “Citizen’s Voice and Adoption of Pakistani E-Government Services,” explains the success of e-government initiatives in Pakistan. It discusses the factors influencing citizens’ e-government

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service adoption using unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model. The findings indicate that, in addition to the lack of awareness and data privacy, all of the factors specified by the model have an effect on the adoption of these services in Pakistan. In the fifth chapter, “E-Government Adoption and Implementation in Oman: A Government Perspective,” an analysis of the factors that influenced the process of adoption and implementation of the e-Government initiative in Oman are presented. It provides an explanation of why government organisations in Oman developed and then adopted e-Government projects and how that affected their success. The next chapter, “Design and Implementation of PropertySafety: A Wireless Sensor-Based Solution for Safety Management of Vacant Properties,” presents description of a proactive safety and emergency management system. It explains how this technology collects real-time temperature, activity, and water detection data remotely, and notifies property owners and facility managers through effective visualizations of a building using the building information management platform. The last chapter in this section, “IT Governance Institutionalisation: A Case of Thai Hospital,” argues that information technology governance practices need to be institutionalised in the social, cultural, technical, and structural environment to produce the desired organisational behaviour of responsibility and accountability. It presents a case study and highlights the key success factors that have led to successful assimilation of these practices with business processes, job functions, and workflows in the case organization. Researchers in this book have developed important theoretical and empirical insights about impacts of technologies in and around contemporary business organisations. Research presented in this book explains organisational processes and structures, individual actions and organisational behaviours, and technology features that affect creation, use, and implications of business-enabling technologies. It is a comprehensive resource, which combines theoretical knowledge with applied case studies on technology adoption, diffusion, assimilation, and institutionalisation. This book opens up new streams of research by providing empirical evidence and compelling theoretical arguments for the importance of issues and challenges in the fields of organisational theory, institutional theory, and technology adoption and assimilation. I hope that it will stimulate further intellectual efforts in adoption, assimilation, and institutionalisation of business technologies. Abrar Haider University of South Australia, Australia

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Acknowledgment

I am grateful to the authors for their important and stimulating contributions. I am highly appreciative of the reviewers for their hard work, which made this book a quality final product. I thank the members of the Editorial Advisory Board for their efforts in both distributing the call for chapters and supporting the review process. The clerical assistance of Ms. Azadeh Pishdad in the early stages of this book is also acknowledged. I would particularly like to acknowledge professionalism of Ms. Erin O’Dea of IGI Global for the prompt and detailed replies to my queries. Abrar Haider University of South Australia, Australia

Section 1

Conceptual Foundations

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Chapter 1

Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation: The Potential Contribution of Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power Michelle Ye University of Tasmania, Australia

Judy McKay Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

Peter Marshall University of Tasmania, Australia

Kristy de Salas University of Tasmania, Australia

ABSTRACT This chapter critically reviews the literature on power relations in information systems implementation projects. IS projects redistribute information and power in organizations and are thus implicated in both project progress and ultimately project success. The review firstly considers the ideas of Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes, and Latour, as these are the most established and prominent theories in the major IS papers on power. This chapter argues for a consideration of a new theory of power and social influence from social psychology deemed suitable for use in IS research. The ideas of this theory have not yet been examined empirically in IS studies of power relations in IS implementations but arguably offer an important opportunity for IS researchers.

INTRODUCTION Despite significant research, and many books and research papers offering prolific advice on the issues involved in the implementation of information systems (IS) (Avison & Torkzadeh, 2008; Iacovou, Thompson, & Smith, 2009; Keil & Mahring, 2010; Seddon, Calvert, & Yang, 2010), IS implementation is a task with many challenges.

Indeed, a large number of IS implementations fail to meet their objectives, and some fail disastrously (Standish Group, 2004). The research into IS implementations has identified many critical success factors along with corresponding reasons for failure (Flowers, 1997; Kappelman, McKeeman, & Zhang, 2006; Oz & Sosik, 2000). The factors identified as being implicated in IS failure include a lack of top management commit-

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6623-8.ch001

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 Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation

ment to the project, lack of corporate leadership (including a weak project champion), inadequate information requirements determination, communication issues, organizational politics, lack of user involvement and participation, and change management problems generally (Grainger, McKay, & Marshall, 2009; Kappelman et al., 2006; Liebowitz, 1999; Oz & Sosik, 2000). The fact that organizational politics, participation and corporate leadership issues are among the reasons for failure indicates that power relations could be an important element in IS implementations. Indeed, power has been explicitly mentioned as a factor of interest and influence regarding project success/failure (Iacovou et al., 2009; Smith & Keil, 2003). Without an understanding of power, an important dimension of social behaviors in IS implementations would be missing, resulting in an impoverished understanding of IS implementations. Thus, this chapter will review and critique the literature on power relations in IS implementation projects demonstrating strengths and weaknesses, and will develop an argument to suggest that Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power offers the elements that may offer important insights into the nature of power relations and the exercise of power in IS implementations. Most IS literature on power in IS implementations is focused on the work of social and political theorists, in particular, Clegg (Silva, 2007; Silva & Backhouse, 2003; Smith, Winchester, Bunker, & Jamieson, 2010), Giddens (Brooks, 1997; Chu & Smithson, 2007; Hussain & Cornelius, 2009), Foucault (Doolin, 1999, 2004; Hardy & Philips, 2004; Knights & Vurdudakis, 1994), Lukes (Howcroft & Light, 2006; Markus & Bjorn-Andersen, 1987) and Latour (Bloomfield, 1991, 1995; Bloomfield, Coombs, Owen, & Taylor, 1997). These theories somewhat rely on the notion that power springs from the control of resources, at least implicitly. As stated by Giddens (1984), “domination”, which is the one of the three dimensions of structure, “refers to power, in terms of access to resources” (p. 33). Clegg (1989a) also states that “power is a

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capacity premised on resource control” (p. 190) in his framework of power. To Foucault (1980b), power and knowledge are closely linked and given the view that knowledge is a resource, Foucault’s theory also essentially considers power as stemming from control of resources. In his words, “knowledge constantly induces effects of power ... ... It is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power” (p. 52). In the first dimension of pluralistic power relations in Lukes’ model, “control over resources is the prime basis of power” (Lovell, 1993, p. 74). Latour (1986) believes that resources play the most important role in building a network of alliances, the process of which involves power relations. “Power”, in his words, is “transferred to the many resources used to strengthen the bonds” (p. 276). However, in the view of the authors of this chapter, the work of these theorists is highly abstract and fails to deliver a clear and useful picture regarding the source of power and tactical applications of power in given situations, particularly in IS implementations. If the control of resources was the primary element in power relations, it would be difficult, once one group established control over important resources, to see how social change would ever be possible. Thus the analyses based on these works offer little practical guidance regarding the effective management of power in IS implementations. However, there are also a few recent publications by academics in the IS field that contribute a pragmatic and tactical analysis of power relations in IS implementations (for example, Mathiassen & Napier, 2014; Sabherwal & Grover, 2010). However, while more practical and useful, these contributions may lack a theoretical grounding in the behavioral science underpinning the behaviors they describe. The IS research on power in IS implementations currently is clustered either in a strong theoretic-low pragmatic grouping, or a strong pragmatic-low theoretic grouping: there is little evidence of research being grounded in strong theoretical traditions and strong pragmatic

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ones as well. This chapter aims to improve this situation by, firstly, reviewing the extant research to provide readers with an understanding of the current situation, and then, presenting a new theory which provides researchers with a basis for theoretically informed yet practical research in power relations in IS implementations. In order to produce a manageable and coherent set of themes and ideas on which to base IS research in this area going forward, this chapter will critically review the IS research on power relations in IS implementations that bases its theoretical analysis on the major social theorists with an interest in power in organizations, namely Clegg, Giddens, Foucault, Lukes and Latour. The chapter will then describe and analyze a new theory that balances a strong theoretical foundation with a focus on the pragmatic and tangible features of power-related behaviors. Specifically, the Three-Process Theory of Power of the social psychologist, John Turner (2005) based on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) will be presented as a reference theory for IS researchers interested in the area of power relations. Future researchers will then be better positioned to take up the research challenge by utilizing these ideas in future IS research studies.

LITERATURE REVIEW The review will be organized using the framework shown in Figure 1 developed by Ye, Marshall, and McKay (2012). The literature on power relations in IS implementations can be effectively organized via the framework’s focus on the three aspects of intra-organizational power; namely the bases or sources of power, the processes and structures of power and the personal characteristics and skills, capabilities and tactics relevant to the application of power. The major focus of research in power relations in IS implementations has been on the processes and structures. However, clearly the origins of power as well as individual characteristics and the ability to influence others could be critical aspects of power relations.

Bases of Power Of the IS research studies concerning power relations in IS implementations, those based on the writings of Foucault (1977, 1980a, 1998), give a clear location for the source of power. The basis or source of power, as indicated in the writings of Foucault (1980a, 1998), is argued to be located, not in leaders or persons in authority, but in the

Figure 1. Multiple facets of power in IS implementations (Adapted from Ye et al., 2012)

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web of social relations and structures existing in society, institutions and in organizations (Hardy & Philips, 2004). Foucault (1977) notes that for contemporary societies, control by authorities has moved from the primitive methods of the threat or actuality of torture and physical violence to more psychological methods, as societies develop a network of distributed disciplinary apparatuses in prisons, military and paramilitary organizations, schools, factories and offices (Berente, Gal, & Yoo, 2010; Townley, 1993). In such organizations, Foucault (1977) argues, people are controlled by a system of control over their bodies, and to an extent, their minds. The time and location of activities is controlled as persons are required to be located at the factory workbench or machine workstation, the school desk, the office workstation and so on for prescribed times. Permitted activities and even specific actions over time are prescribed by industrial engineers, time and motion experts or business process management specialists. Thus standardized organizational processes or routines ceaselessly discipline the members of such organizations as these activities are scrutinized, measured and evaluated by supervisory authorities. Training and constant supervision and guidance by supervisory authorities via observation and/or software inculcates a discipline that perseveres beyond the constant gaze of supervisors, as individuals begin to impose self-discipline. In order to impose such discipline, the relevant authorities have to have knowledge of the situation or arena of control. Thus Foucault sees knowledge, not in terms of truth and falsity, but in terms of enabling disciplinary power. Indeed, in a play on words, Foucault (1977) uses the word ‘discipline’ in two ways; as a disciplinary body of knowledge and as a synonym for control. Thus, for example, the ‘discipline’ of project management is at once a body of knowledge, but is also a discipline in the control and power sense (Hodgson, 2002). The terminology of the project management discipline and the language of project management, together with the structures and processes

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of project management, give a framework that guides, directs and disciplines the activities of both project management practitioners and project participants and allows performance to be evaluated and scrutinized (Hodgson, 2002). A number of IS research papers on power relations in IS implementations have used Foucault’s perspective on the source and nature of power as a basis for theoretical analysis (Ball & Wilson, 2000; Berente et al., 2010; Doolin, 1999, 2002, 2004). Doolin (2004) gives a Foucauldian analysis of a New Zealand hospital ‘case-mix’ system, implemented at the behest of hospital management. The system sought to monitor, scrutinize, cost and report on clinical activity in the hospital, thus bringing about more resource-aware and cost-conscious behavior among physicians. This made clinical activity of various kinds, and hence physicians’ work performance, more visible and comparable, or in Doolin’s words, more ‘calculable’. However, the physicians were able to mount successful resistance to the system, and eventually the system collapsed into a minor role in the hospital. The implication of Doolin’s (2004) study seems to be that whenever power relations are embedded in a social setting where user groups have significant social influence, then for an information system to be successfully implemented, either the social context and culture needs to be changed first, or there needs to be negotiation regarding the system with the powerful group or groups. Neither of these actions were taken at the New Zealand hospital concern, and hence the system failed. Thus the importance of understanding power relations in such projects is underlined by the case study. Berente et al. (2010) also based their analysis of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation on Foucault’s theory of power, discipline and control. An ERP system provides, the authors find, an excellent platform for management to exert some necessary controls that contribute towards organizational productivity, but also find that some elements of the implementa-

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tion were geared towards control for control sake, contributing little or nothing to organizational productivity. Berente et al. (2010) term this latter phenomenon ‘dressage-as-control’. Practitioners are advised by the authors to avoid such actions, particularly as the practice generates time-wasting and meaningless counterfeit compliance, which the authors call ‘dressage-as-response’. Again the study contributes generally to the understanding of power relations in IS implementations. Ball and Wilson (2000) used Foucault’s perspective on power to analyze computer-based performance monitoring in two UK financial services firms, namely a building society and bank. Both cases show the close interrelationship between the application of disciplinary power and the framing of resistance. In both cases, there is intense and close computer measurement of work activity and work rates in financial services work, possibly to an extent that could be regarded as oppressive. In the building society, however, feedback on the performance numbers observed tended to be constructive, and there was a general empowerment element to performance management, including coaching to improve performance. However, in the bank case, there was a highly autocratic approach to dealing with the management of the measured performance, and in this case, stress, unhappiness and resistance are all more marked among the employees under surveillance. Drawing from Foucault’s thinking on power, another significant theorist who has written on the bases of power is Stephen Lukes (1974) whose best-known theory is the ‘Three Dimensions of Power’. This theory asserts that social and/or organizational control is achieved in three ways: through decision-making power, non-decisionmaking power and ideological power. The first dimension concerns power in the decision-making process, where the powerful are those who are able to influence the decision-making process to obtain the outcomes they want. In this dimension of power, control of resources is illustrated as the prime basis of power (Gurpreet, 2004; Lovell,

1993). The second dimension focuses on the nondecision-making process where the powerful are able to use mechanisms to squeeze people out and confine decision-making to safe issues and thus control over agenda for decision making is the key. The third dimension concerns power being used not only to prevent issues from entering decisionmaking process but also to prevent issues from arising at all by shaping people’s perceptions and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order. In this way, power is most effective when it is unnecessary. Although Lukes’ Three Dimensions of Power have been largely reviewed, critiqued, and developed in multiple disciplines (Hardy, 1996; Howcroft & Light, 2006; Markus & Bjorn-Andersen, 1987), there is only one study which adopts Lukes’ Three Dimensions of Power model as a lens to investigate power in the context of IS implementations, which is a longitudinal study conducted by Howcroft and Light (2006) concerning the adoption of a customer relationship management package in a small organization. The study applies the framework developed by Markus and BjornAndersen (1987), who draw on the work of Lukes, to investigate the exercise of power by systems professionals over users. The three dimensions of power have been examined to highlight both overt and covert power issues within the selection and procurement of the product and illustrate the interplay of power between senior management, information technology (IT) managers, IT vendors and consultants and end-users. The research illustrates how in-house IT professionals may no longer only be required to be responsible for technical issues such as developing software, but are expected to negotiate with a range of stakeholders including IT consultants and internal financial decision-makers. Their study contributes to the understanding of how power is deeply embedded within the surrounding processes by adopting Lukes’ Three Dimensions of Power model. The work of Lukes is thus focused on power in decision-making processes and hence relates more

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closely to matters of interest in IS implementations. However, his work does not give a clear analysis of the sources of power and thus omits a number of structural variables that can be utilized by practitioners in setting up IS implementations. Potential behaviors and covert latent conflict are key concepts in Lukes’ perspectives of power (Clegg, 1989b) but the real issue is how one can determine and evaluate the action, practice and relations of such unknown variables in real social contexts. Thus more tangible variables are needed such as persuasion power and legitimate authority (Turner, 2005). In each of the above analyses of IS research on the bases of power, one can gain an understanding of the complexity and interrelationships of power relations, resistance and the success or otherwise of IS implementations. However, overall, there is a lack of clear guidance for practitioners regarding particular practices to adopt, or policies to implement in order to successfully negotiate the complexities of power relations in such implementations. Further, the analyses focus on the relations between management and the users of the systems and do not include an analysis of intra-project power relations between project team members, which one imagines is part of the total picture of power relations.

Processes/Structures of Power IS research that focus on the processes and structures through which power is exercised largely draw on the work of Giddens, Clegg and Latour, in particular Giddens’ Structuration Theory, Clegg’s Circuits of Power model and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (Bloomfield, 1991, 1995; Bloomfield et al., 1997; Hussain & Cornelius, 2009; Silva & Backhouse, 2003; Smith et al., 2010). We will first deal with Giddens’ Structuration Theory and the IS research studies on power relations that utilize this theory, and then move on to consider Clegg’s and Latour’s theories.

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Giddens’ writings are focused on providing an ontology of human society, thus revealing and defining the major entities of the human social world (Craib, 1992). Thus Giddens’ theoretical work deals with social phenomena at a high level of abstraction (Jones & Karsten, 2008; Layder, 1985; Macintosh & Scapens, 1990, 1991). The central feature of Giddens’ Structuration Theory is the balanced treatment of structure and agency, so that neither is taken as primal and fundamental, but rather both interact and impact the other. Human action is taken to be guided and influenced, but not completely determined by structures or defined patterns of behavior (Busco, 2009; Huang, 1997; Jones & Karsten, 2008; Layder, 1985). On the other hand, structures or codes of practice, templates, rules and formulas can be altered, reshaped or even redefined by individual actions that differ somewhat from existing structures. This production and reproduction of structures through human action is often referred to as the duality of structure and action (Giddens, 1984). In a sense, structures only exist as memory traces in individuals, until they are instantiated by the actions of individuals. Thus actions or interactive behaviors and structures are mutually constitutive (Giddens, 1984; Layder, 1985; Macintosh & Scapens, 1990, 1991). Giddens identifies three dimensions of structure, namely signification, domination and legitimation (see Figure 2). These are related and interlinked with three corresponding dimensions of human interaction, namely communication, power and sanction. Each of the dimensions of interaction is shaped and guided by the corresponding structure, and is linked to the structure via the modalities or bridging mechanisms of interpretative schemes, facilities and norms as shown in Figure 2. We note that in human social life, the dimensions of structure and human interaction are intimately interrelated and interlinked: they are separated in Structuration Theory only for analytic purposes (Chu & Smithson, 2007; Giddens, 1984; Hussain & Cornelius, 2009).

 Power Relations in Information Systems Implementation

Figure 2. Dimensions of structure and interactions in Structuration Theory (Adapted from Giddens, 1984, p. 29)

Signification structures concern the making and sharing of meaning. As such, these structures consist of codes, templates, rules and formulas for the act of communicating. Actual communicative practices draw not only on the structures, but are informed by interpretative schemes which are stocks of shared knowledge and cognitive rules for making and sharing meaning. Legitimation structures consist of moral codes and rules that guide legitimate behaviors and reproduce and guide moral actions via sanctions. Legitimation structures and sanctions are mediated and informed by social norms. Domination structures guide and constrain the exercise of power. The enactment of behaviors involving power relations is not only guided by domination structures, but is mediated and enabled by facilities or resources. Such resources can be allocative resources that spring from command over material objects, or authoritative resources that involve the command and coordination of human actors (Huang, 1997; Macintosh & Scapens, 1990, 1991). Aside from specifics of domination structures, Giddens views power as ubiquitous, being present in all actions and in all social relations (Giddens, 1979, 1984; Huang, 1997; Layder, 1985). Power, to Giddens, represents the transformative capacity to get things done and, as such, does not tend to

be limited to its dark side of coercion, bullying, oppression, and exploitation (Huang, 1997). Power is possessed, to some extent at least, by all social agents, wherever they are in the institutional or organizational hierarchy. Agents can, by definition, always do otherwise, yet are needed by those in senior positions in the hierarchy by reason of their energy to get things done and their knowledge of local processes and ways to do things. Giddens refers to this feature of power as the ‘dialectic of control’ (Giddens, 1979, 1984; Huang, 1997). Although there are a lot of studies drawn from Giddens’ Structuration Theory (Brooks, 1997; Chu & Smithson, 2007; Macintosh & Scapens, 1990), there is only one study in the extant IS literature that uses Giddens’ Structuration Theory as a theoretical lens to examine and make sense of power relations in an IS implementation, namely, Hussain and Cornelius’ (2009) study of the implementation of an intranet in a health care organization in the UK. Hussain and Cornelius identify episodes in the narrative of this case study that can be viewed as the enactment of domination and legitimation structures, thus explaining the progress and success of the project in terms of these notions. Outside the identification of these structures, however, there is little to indicate to theoreticians and practitioners what constitutes

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effective and ethical management of power relations in IS implementations. For example, in Hussain and Cornelius’ study despite some passive resistance, it seems to be that the senior management and IT management were always able to produce and reproduce domination and legitimation structures by controlling resources to prevent and minimize any resistance to accept changes. There are no sufficient unanticipated difficulties in the case study to allow one to investigate how power relations can be dealt with effectively and ethically in overt political conflicts between different groups. Turning now to the work of Clegg (Clegg, 1989; Clegg, Courpasson, & Philips, 2006), there are several IS studies of power relations in IS implementations that use Clegg’s Circuits of Power model (Backhouse, Hsu, & Silva, 2006; Smith et al., 2010; Silva & Backhouse, 2003). However, before reviewing the studies, we will review the basic nature and structure of Clegg’s model. The model is centered around the metaphor of circuits in which power flows silently and invisibly as in electric circuits. There are three circuits, further discussed below: the episodic circuit of causal power, the circuit of social integration and the circuit of systemic integration. The three circuits Figure 3. The circuits of power and its outcome (Adapted from Silva & Backhouse, 2003, p. 301)

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represent highly interlinked dimensions or aspects of power (Clegg, 1989; Clegg et al., 2006). The episodic circuit of power is concerned with the exercise of causal power. Causal or sovereign power encompasses the traditional notion of power whereby power is a resource or commodity possessed by someone which enables them to direct, command or coerce others. Thus, in simple terms, an episode of causal power occurs when A directs or causes B to do something that otherwise B would not do (see bolded arrow in Figure 3) (Dahl, 1957). Whether this episode is successful in terms of A’s design or intent is determined by the situation established by the other two circuits as indicated in Figure 3. The circuit of social integration emphasizes dispositional power (Clegg, 1989; Clegg et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2010). Dispositional power is concerned with the establishment, configuration and maintenance of the ‘standing conditions’ of organizational actors. The standing conditions for actors are the positions they hold in the organizational structures and their access to the resources of the organization (Clegg, 1989; Silva & Backhouse, 2003). Thus dispositional power refers to the capacities of actors to make things happen. To understand dispositional power we

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need to study the structures, rules and policies that create meaning in organizations and give membership to groups including project team, committees and the like (Backhouse et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2010). Dispositional power does not only refer to formal organizational rules and structures but it also refers to the informal organization of tacit understandings, conversations and discourses. Thus considerable analysis and interpretive effort is necessary to understand the operation of this circuit. Generally speaking the circuit is concerned with issues related to legitimation, authority and access to resources (Smith et al., 2010). The circuit of systemic integration is concerned with facilitative power in organizations (Clegg, 1989; Clegg et al., 2006; Davenport & Leitch, 2005). Whereas the causal power of the episodic circuit concerns power as ‘power over’, facilitative power concerns ‘power to’ (Clegg, 1989; Gohler, 2009). Facilitative power is thus a positive conception of power that is involved in the bending of wills so as to achieve collective goals. Facilitative power is enacted or exercised through what Clegg (1989) refers to as the techniques of production and discipline. Clegg uses the term ‘discipline’ in the Foucauldian sense which includes both rewards and sanctions and the techniques of supervision, surveillance, routinization, formalization, and mechanization (Clegg, 1989; Hodgson, 2002). Thus management’s techniques of motivation and control are relevant here, as are the associated IT-enabled systems of performance measurement (Silva & Backhouse, 2003). The techniques of production refer to the methods and technologies used to deliver the organizational output of goods and/or services. In this matter, as well as in the techniques of discipline, innovations that change or transform these techniques are of particular importance (Coopey, Keegan, & Elmer, 1997; Orssato & Clegg, 1999). There are four papers in the extant IS literature that are focused on power relations in IS implementations and that use Clegg’s Circuits of Power

as a theoretical lens. In one such study, Silva and Backhouse (2003) present an in-depth longitudinal case study involving the implementation and institutionalization of an administrative system in a central American research organization. This study traces the power struggles and resistance associated with the implementation of the system, which was focused on disciplining the researchers to follow the monetary disbursement rules of an important external funding agency. As such, the system constituted an obligatory passage point for researchers requiring to expend money to progress their research projects. The episodic, social and systemic circuits were used in the analysis to reveal different perspectives on the power relations in the organization as it undertook the implementation of this system. Without these different perspectives, the authors argue, an incomplete picture of power relations in the IS implementation concerned would result. The information system, the authors maintain, has to be integrated into the organization at the three levels that correspond to the three circuits of power. The papers by Backhouse et al. (2006) and Smith et al. (2010) are similar to the paper just discussed, except that the IS implementation studied in the research concerns, not an information system, but the formulation and implementation of a de jure information systems security standard. Further, the two studies involve, not just individual organizational actors, but private corporations and government departments and agencies as actors. Again, as in the paper reviewed above, episodes in the narrative of the cases are identified as events or situations pertaining to one or more of the circuits of power. However, it is worth noting that at times the analysis is abstract, opaque and difficult to interpret. As mentioned by Backhouse et al. (2006, p. 429): Deploying these elements - the circuits, the obligatory passage points, the exogenous factors - can leave the uninitiated a little bemused at times ... ... the framework is not exactly intuitive.

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The fourth paper is written by Silva and Fulk (2012) who conducted a longitudinal case study of power relations during an ERP implementation in a university. This study presents how the power struggles and disturbances to the circuits of power arise and intensify during the implementation of the project. The authors identify two tactics related to the episodic circuit – bypassing and workarounds, the first being classified as overt resistance for achieving social integration, while the second is conceptualized as a response to disturbances in the circuit of systemic integration. In the case study, the users’ overt resistance was strong enough so that the users, as the weak group, communicated with and convinced their campus top management (i.e., the President), bypassing the authority of the project management group, forcing project management group to negotiate seriously which then led to some compromise agreement. Therefore, bypassing classified as overt resistance is done with the purpose of undermining the standing conditions of the powerful group while enhancing their own so as relating to social integration. However, there is some confusion as to how the bypassing tactic relates to group power since the campus top management who provided senior support to the users was also a powerful group – actually legitimately more powerful than

the project management group. Further, although the circuits’ conceptual richness helped the authors in structuring and conceptualizing the case, it is difficult for readers to thoroughly understand how social integration can be achieved because the system being studied in the case did not complete integration whereas the Circuits of Power model focuses on integration as a result of power. Another theorist, Bruno Latour (1986, 2005) who expands Foucault’s (1977) notion of power and discipline, also offers contextual knowledge regarding the processes/structures of power. Before turning to the application of Latour’s work in IS research, we will give a brief representation of the power-related concepts in Latour’s Actor-Network Theory. Latour’s theory perceives our contemporary society and organizations as constituted by heterogeneous elements of human actors and non-human actors (i.e., technology, machines and objects) and the fundamental aspect is the relationality of these actors, each of which is interactively constituted in relationship with other actors in the actor-network (Doolin & Lowe, 2002). A typical actor-network in the context of IS implementations can be a heterogeneous set of alliances between people and machine (see the left part in Figure 4) and the project team seeks to enroll other actors (human and non-human)

Figure 4. An example of Latour’s actor-network and enrollment of allies

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into the network (see the right part in Figure 4) by persuading them that they share a common interest or problem (Latour, 1987). This process of negotiation involves power relations (Callon & Latour, 1981). Thus Latour (1986) argues that power should be treated as an effect of collective action rather than a cause: the spread of the initial force (i.e., the order made by a powerful party) needs new sources of energy all the time and these sources of energy are in the hands of people who may act in many different ways thus the force (i.e., the order made by a powerful party) is slowly modified and translated by many different people as they sought to achieve their own goals. Thus power is not something one can store and possess, but something that has to be obtained from ‘others’ – these ‘others’ refer to the ones who are really powerful and doing the action and they attribute their action to one amongst them who becomes powerful (potentially). Latour’s Actor-Network Theory with its central concern being understanding the role of technology within society has been used in IS research to investigate the relations between technology and organization. Bloomfield and colleagues (1991; 1995; 1997) have used Latour’s perspectives to investigate power, technology, and social relations in a computerized IS based organizational change in health services, specifically Bloomfield used Latour’s notions of inscription devices in Bloomfield (1991) and Latour’s notions of durability and delegation in Bloomfield (1995). Bloomfield et al. (1997) analyzed a series of events by using Latour’s Actor-Network Theory in the IS development in the health services. They argue that organizational IT systems are actor-networks as combinations of heterogeneous actors (i.e., hardware, software, representations of organizational phenomena, and expectations about groups of users) and the development and implementation of an IT system mediates and is mediated by the exercises of power within organizations. Bloomfield (1995) argues that the regularity and self-discipline of the staff is mediated and reinforced through the

actions delegated to the systems. The delegation to the systems then becomes political because the staff’s accepted ideas, ways of thinking or their approaches to problems tend to be dominated by the technologies of information and its representation. Moreover, the IT involved in the organizational change makes the goal of competition and social relations more durable and more stable and Bloomfield argues that this durability is not because some management authorities are in a position of domination or have used technology to reinforce their position, but because of a wider, more complex network of social relations that has begun to emerge. Bloomfield et al.’s works have empirically represented the social relations and political games in the development and implementation of IS by adopting Latour’s ideas. However, they do not provide a practical guidance in tactical management of power that is of relevance and interest to IS implementation leaders; for example, they do not make it clear in such complex actor-networks of how a change agent may succeed in persuading change recipients in an IS-based organizational change. Latour has offered sensitive notions of power and has contributed to the IS field by discussions in the Actor-Network Theory about the relationship between technology and society. Although Latour makes it clear that power relations are involved in complex actor-networks and resistance may happen in the process of building a network, the notions of power in Latour’s theory do not provide IS practitioners with tangible variables that can be utilized in tactical exercises of power and management of resistance behaviors. It may be well used to discover the social relations and changes in organizations but somewhat omit the detailed aspects of ways/processes of dealing with resistance and effective use of power. The theories of Giddens, Clegg and Latour have provided insightful theoretical frameworks regarding the processes and structures of power and are more tangible for IS theoreticians and practitioners to use as theoretical lenses in the

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study of specific organizational events (e.g., IS implementations) than the theories which only concern the nature of power. However, these theories are somewhat lacking in intuitive clarity for researchers to possess immediate apprehension regarding the operation of power. When using the variables and concepts from these frameworks, one may have difficulties in evaluating, determining and explaining overt political conflicts and explicit resistance behaviors.

Personal Characteristics and Skills/ Tactics in the Application of Power Aside from the structural determinants of power mentioned above, there are, in addition, various personal determinants of power including personal characteristics, personality traits, social skills and tactical influence behaviors (Anderson & Spataro, 2008; Enns, Huff, & Golden, 2001; Faeth, 2004; Kelman, 1958; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003; Kipnis & Schmidt, 1980; Yukl & Falbe, 1990; Yukl, Falbe, & Youn, 1993; Yukl & Tracey, 1992). Certain personal characteristics, which have been found to include physical attractiveness, height and muscle mass for men, certain facial characteristics and the like, are associated with elevated levels of power in individual cases (Anderson & Spataro, 2008; Keltner et al., 2003; Savin-Williams, 1977). Some personality traits, for example extroversion and increased social skills are similarly associated with increased individual levels of power and influence (Anderson & Spataro, 2008; Coats & Feldman, 1996; Keltner et al., 2003). Various patterns of influence behaviors are also known to be used by individuals in order to direct and change the behavior of others, and thus, by definition, are an aspect of the application of power (Enns, Huff, & Golden, 2003; Faeth, 2004; Kelman, 1958; Kipnis & Schmidt, 1980; Yukl & Falbe, 1990; Yukl et al., 1993; Yukl & Tracey, 1992). Such patterns of behavior are often referred to in the social psychological and

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organizational literature as influence tactics (Yukl & Falbe, 1990; Yukl et al., 1993; Yukl & Tracey, 1992). The studies investigating such behaviors are extensive and can be traced back to the 1950s (Faeth, 2004). Notable in this research is the set of social psychological studies carried out by Yukl and his colleagues, leading, among other things, to a classification of ten proactive influence tactics including rational behavior, coalition building, consultation, establishing the legitimacy of requests, personal and inspirational appeals and so on (Faeth, 2004). Further, some of these power and influence behaviors have been found to be, generally speaking, more effective than others (Mowday, 1978; Yukl & Tracey, 1992). Outside the work of Yukl, there is literature indicating that participative approaches and approaches that have significant levels of organizational and procedural justice may impact the way power relations play out (Eberlin & Tatum, 2008; Heller, 2003; van Dijke, Cremer, & Mayer, 2010). The overall implication of the above is that the socially skilled, who can deploy such tactics with finesse and skill, will be more effective in using influence and power to successfully direct and manage change. Effective use of such power and influence behaviors would thus, arguably at least, be critically important in IS implementations. However, surprisingly, IS research on power relations in IS implementations on this aspect of the application of power has been especially sparse and only a few studies have examined personal influence behaviors and tactics in setting up and implementing IS projects (Enns et al., 2001, 2003). Thus there are significant aspects of power relations that lack an adequate focus or even absent from the analyses of power in the IS literature.

A NEW RESEARCH DIRECTION The IS papers mentioned above have used the theories of philosophers and sociologists to analyze and to understand the phenomenon of power

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relations in IS implementations. Possibly, in part at least, because of the nature of the disciplines of the theorists concerned, the theories used are highly general, abstract, and at times, somewhat opaque and lacking in intuitive clarity, especially when applied to particular organizational events at the level of detail appropriate to IS implementations. For example, the inferred notion that power flows from resources does not provide a useful guidance to see how social changes work, especially resistance behaviors in IS implemented organizational change. Furthermore, the theories reviewed above omit the aspect of personal skills and tactics in the application of power which can act as an important aspect in negotiating with stakeholders in IS implementations. However, a more tangible and potentially useful theory concerning the nature and operation of power has emerged in social psychology and is based on the work of Turner and other social identity theorists in that discipline (Simon & Oakes, 2006; Turner, 2005). Turner’s Three-Process theory of Power emerged in the mid-2000s and, despite its potential to shedding new light on the exercise of social influence and power, has not been used as a theoretical lens in any studies of power relations in IS implementations to date. Thus, this constitutes a real opportunity to researchers in IS and other social science disciplines to increase and deepen our understanding of power relations in organizations and IS. We will now give a very brief explanation of the nature of Turner’s theory, including its theoretical underpinnings. Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power is based on his work with Tajfel, Oakes, Hogg and others in Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) (Drzensky & Van Dick, 2013; Hogg & Turner, 1985; Hornsey, 2008; Oakes, Haslam, & Turner, 1994; Oakes, Turner, & Haslam, 1991; Tajfel, Flament, Billig, & Bundy, 1971; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1978a, 1978b; Turner & Reynolds, 2010). SIT was developed to explain the psychological basis of intergroup behavior, particularly the discrimi-

nation of in-group members against out-group members, that is of ‘us’ against ‘them’ (Hogg & Turner, 1985; Hornsey, 2008; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Different groups, of course, are characterized by differences in power, status and prestige. Belonging to a group confers a certain identity which leads to certain behaviors which includes supporting one’s own group, the in-group, and being more open to persuasion by members of this group, while simultaneously discriminating against and being somewhat impervious to influence from the relevant ‘others’ in any social situation, that is, the out-group (Ashforth & Mael, 1998; Hogg, 2001a, 2001b; Hogg & Terry, 2000; Reicher, 2004; Schwarz & Watson, 2005). In the 1980s, Turner extended and deepened his ideas regarding SIT and psychological group formation with and through the development of SCT (Turner, 1984, 1985, 1987; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). SCT argues that individuals have a rough hierarchy of categories that they refer to in order to give meaning and direction to their social life (Hogg & Turner, 1985; Hornsey, 2008; Turner, 1985, 1987, 1991; Turner et al., 1987). Belonging to a particular category is equivalent to belonging to a psychological group in which a series of values and interpretations are shared. An example of such categories may be those categories applying to two female academics, one an accounting academic and the other a management academic, both in University X. These two persons would likely belong to such groups as University X, the Business School of University X, academics, and women; these groups being in a rough and perhaps overlapping hierarchy. In a faculty budget situation, these two women may be rivals and power players in the competition for resources, but in a different situation, may both support the University in building its reputation in competition with other universities. At an even more inclusive level, both academics may support women in general in equal pay and other social justice issues. Thus, different categories have salience in different situations.

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As mentioned above, when an individual accepts and internalizes (or is persuaded to accept) a category as applying to them, they act as a member of a psychological group. Such acceptance may occur over a long period of time, but can at times occur quickly in a particular situation. This will lead to an individual accepting and behaving in accordance with certain values that are regarded as typical of the category or group. Based on a number of experimental studies, Turner (1987) concluded that if individuals accepted such selfcategorization then psychological group membership was in play even in cases where members did not have personal proximity and interaction, were not directly interdependent and lacked the cohesion of some social groups. For example, membership of the nation state or a global organization could constitute such categories. Psychological group membership offers members the potential positive effects of making sense of the world and hence reducing uncertainty, as well as support for one’s self interest, and potentially (for high status groups at least) self enhancement. In terms of social influence and power, psychological group members are open to persuasion and influence from other members, particularly highly prototypical members, as they wish to retain their psychological group membership, hence the link to power. In formulating the Three-Process Theory, Turner rejected the notion common in other social psychological and sociological theories of power that power springs from the control of resources that are valued, desired and needed by others. For Turner, power springs from psychological group membership as indicated in SIT and SCT. Thus, Turner asserts that he is formulating a way to study “how power emerges from and functions within social relationships with a definite social, ideological and historical content, rather than redefining it as an abstract external force producing generic psychological effects” (Turner, 2005, p. 1) and, further notes that his theory emphasizes

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“group identity, social organization and ideology” (Turner, 2005, p. 1), rather than dependence on resources as the basis of power. Power in the Three-Process Theory operates through either persuasion or control, where control, in turn, operates through the processes of authority or coercion (see Figure 5). Thus the three processes through which power is exercised are persuasion, authority and coercion. Turner (2005) argues persuasive power exercised through a psychological group is a function of the group identity and consensus. People are more likely to be persuaded by intragroup members as they are sharing the same attitudes and beliefs. To continue the example of two female academics in University X, even when the accounting academic and the management academic do not necessarily agree with each other on a personal level, however, when working on how to improve the reputation of University X in competition with other universities, one’s identity as a member of University X would become salient and the other would be perceived by the former as an in-group member based on their shared identity and thus they tend to engage in mutual persuasion to reach agreement in supporting their university. Therefore, organizational actors are not submitting to others because they need access to necessary resources but because they are persuaded through negotiation and collective validation of the reality within their reference group. Authority is power that is legitimated by ingroup norms that have a shared social identity as their basis. It is conferred by “formal agreement, custom or the norms inherent in group activity” (Turner, 2005, p. 11). The tacit or formal agreement involved in authority permits a designated group member to control others in the in-group. In order to retain the group membership and the benefits that flow from being an employee, members of an organization submit voluntarily to the authority hierarchy of the organization. To take this example

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Figure 5. The nature of power (Adapted from Turner, 2005, p. 7)

further, consider the accounting academic, from the previous example, and the other a management academic in the Business School of University X, where the management academic’s position is hierarchically higher than the accounting academic’s. At the personal level they may disagree, however if the disagreement is about school matters then the authority hierarchy of the school becomes salient and the accounting academic may go along with the management academic because the later has the authority of a higher-level manager. Authority, then, short-circuits the debates, deliberations, and arguments that may take place without such a working agreement in place. Turner refers to coercion as “authority in a dark mirror” (Turner, 2005, p. 12). It is the form

of power employed when one does not possess or is not willing to exert persuasion or legitimate authority. However, a risk of coercion is that it tends to weaken the power of those applying it as it may bring into being an adversary opposed to the source of the coercion; that is, coercion provokes and encourages resistance. As an example of coercion, consider the example of the female academics in University X further. If the accounting academic is told by the higher-level management academic to work through meal breaks until midnight in order to meet a number of important deadlines but the accounting academic believes the management academic’s command to be outside her authority, the accounting academic may consider overt resistance. However, she may

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eventually comply if she is faced with threats from the management academic to demote her. Nevertheless, the risk is that the accounting academic may become mistrusting of the management academic and decide to look for ways to resist future coercion attempts (e.g., join the union). Thus Turner concludes that the art of exercising power is often to coordinate and balance the use of the different processes of power. Turner’s framework provides an insightful framework for understanding and interpreting different group members’ experiences and perceptions of persuasion, authority and/or even coercion in project events surrounding the issues and problems inhibiting the project’s progress. It enables researchers to draw on particular powerrelated events in project groups which are usually constituted by different professional groups/ stakeholders, different gender groups, different hierarchical levels, etc. It may not be easy to draw lines and define persuasion, authority or coercion for each particular behavior as sometimes one believes authority is exercised while the target perceives coercion. As Turner’s social identity approach focuses on one’s perception of the world and the self, the understanding and interpretation of behaviors always depends on the story teller’s expression based on their experience of persuasion, authority or coercion. This constitutes the understanding of how power relations operate in a project context. In IS projects particularly, IT artifacts, systems, along with IT skills can be part of the way a person’s professional identity is perceived, and hence affect or be implicated in power relations. Since IT skills can be a factor in shaping one’s identity, it can thus be an important factor in power relations, specifically affecting persuasion and authority events in organizational life (Schwarz & Watson, 2005; Stein, Galliers, & Markus, 2013). For example, a person in a project team with very high IT skills may be able to, in some contexts, exert more authority than his/her position in the organizational hierarchy would predict. One can

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be able to explain such a context by using Turner’s theory in a way that: As the person’s group identity as an IT professional becomes salient, a senior management group can be well convinced by and support him/her regarding getting the group of users engaged. In such a context, the IT professional together with their IT group may be able to progress the project by getting a higher-level manager in the user group to do what they want. Thus, here are significant advantages in using Turner’s theory and the associated underpinning theories of SIT and SCT to explain power relations and the associated phenomena. It can be argued that the theories of Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes and Latour rely, implicitly at least, on the notion that power springs from the control of resources. This leads to problems in that different types of resources, such as physical and financial resources, informational resources, expertise and so on, seem to lead to different power sources (French & Raven, 1959). Thus we find resource dependency theories of power with one (Festinger, 1950), two (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955), three (Kelman, 1958) or five, six or more sources (French & Raven, 1959; Raven, 2001) whereas Turner’s theory provides a parsimonious and coherent explanation of the source of power based simply on psychological group formation (Turner, 2005). The control of resources is believed by Turner to be only used when one cannot persuade or does not have authority power; that is, when one has to exert coercive power by controlling and using resources. The nature of power, Turner argues, springs from group identity and consensus and that the control of resources is the result of one gaining the power. Since resource control is the result rather than the source of power, one does not have to determine the types of resources to be able to study the nature and the operation of power by using Turner’s theory. Thus Turner provides a strong point with his recognition of other sources of power (i.e., group consensus) and the incorporation of instances where control of resources is resorted to within his theory. Theories that rely

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on resource dependency for an explanation of power also have problems explaining social and organizational change and related phenomena. This leads to difficulties in explaining how social and organizational change movements sometimes succeed when the parties concerned have few resources, whereas Turner’s theory has no such difficulties (Turner, 2005). In particular, whereas resource dependency theories of power have difficulties in explaining how groups that are low in the organizational hierarchy succeed in resisting information systems innovations mandated by powerful organizational actors, social identity based arguments furnish a ready answer (Turner, 2005). In such a context, it can be argued that the resistant power from low level groups who have few resources does not come from their control of resources but from the formation of their groups as the resistant force. Therefore, Turner’s theory together with SIT and SCT, may also provide a more convincing explanation of such phenomena as resistance (van Dijk & van Dick, 2009) and persistence with failing projects (Haslam et al., 2006). Thus not only is it a new theory which provides additional insights, but also there are significant potential benefits for researchers in using Turner’s Three-Process Theory in studying power phenomena in IS implementations. It motivates critical thinking of the relationship between power and control of resources. It also has the detailed focus in the specification of both the source of power and the processes of power to be applied to particular events in organizations. To understand and interpret people’s experiences of persuasion, authority and/or coercion involved in the power relations among project groups, practitioners can be able to build a rich picture of the origin and nature of power and resistance based on different perspectives of groups in IS implementations. However, there are some weaknesses with Turner’s theory that need to be acknowledged. The first concern is the approaches used in the studies on which Turner’s theory is built and developed.

The findings in SIT and SCT on which Turner’s theory is built are produced by social psychological experiments. In the two experiments reported fully in Turner (1978a), students are used in very artificial situations rather than real social contexts and the studies tend to provide ready-made and post hoc findings. Thus, a number of weaknesses might flow from this since there is no natural social structure and there are not the real consequences that flow in real situations such as people losing their jobs for poor decisions or behaviors or lack of good management. Indeed, research methods used in the study on which a theory is based can influence and affect the development of the theory. Thus there is a need to apply Turner’s theory in real social contexts involved with complex relationships and consequences that flow in real situations (e.g., case studies) as potentially it can contribute to knowledge of power and social influence and the application of the theory. Another weakness could be that Turner might overlook the organizational hierarchy or social structure in organizations which could involve very considerable power differences in given contexts. That is, Turner omits the consideration of how an established social structure involved with the differences in status, resources, authority in the organization or society affects power relations. This might be because that the theory is based on SIT and SCT which were developed via social experiments and the experiments by their nature were conducted with experimental groups with no history or context and therefore no established social structure. Considerations of the effects of social structure are absent from SIT and SCT and thus do not appear in Turner’s ThreeProcess Theory. It is possible that Turner would have those using his theory to incorporate social structure into the set of psychological groups in given situations. Thus in an organizational setting, maybe the low level employees, their supervisors, middle management and senior management are all to be regarded as different psychological groups but how do we explain why, in this case, the low

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level employees often have less influence over company affairs than senior management? Indeed, sometimes a group of low level employees can resist an initiative or a ruling by senior management but they risk sanctions or even dismissal. However, in most situations, the senior management has great power over the employees even when the employees are organized into unions as the senior management direct strategy, working conditions and policies – nearly everything to do with the lower employees’ working lives. One incident where lower level employees succeed in resisting senior management does not mean that they have anything like the same power or influence. Therefore, the general view is that the hierarchy or social structure in a company could involve very considerable power differences and hence is important to consider. The theory is moderately new, certainly in comparison to the theories of social theorists reviewed above. More significantly, in the study of power relations in IS implementations, there has been no empirical research carried out using Turner’s Three-Process Theory of Power, despite the theory being credible and having a firm theoretical and empirical basis in SIT and SCT (Examples of using SIT/SCT empirically in IS include Drzensky & Van Dick, 2013; Schwarz & Watson, 2005; van Dijk & van Dick, 2009). The theory’s focus on psychological group formation is relevant to IS since the project manager or leader is often an IT specialist and hence in a different group from those stakeholders who constitute the change recipients in the IS implementations. Despite the weaknesses, Turner’s theory has the detailed focus in the specification of both the source of power (psychological group formation) and the processes of power (persuasion, authority and coercion) that are required for it to be able to be applied to particular events in organizations and IS implementations. This is not always the case with Foucault and Giddens where a broader and more societal focus often seems apparent. Possibly researchers may find that although the

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Three-Process Theory gives new insights, full understanding of power relations may only come when the theory is combined both with some aspects of other relevant theories including Foucault, Giddens, Clegg, Lukes and Latour (and perhaps others like French and Raven (1959)) and with some aspects related to personal characteristics and influence tactics.

CONCLUSION This chapter has reviewed and explained the major theoretical underpinnings of the recent research on power relations in IS implementations as well as the corresponding IS research. Rather than being an exhaustive and taxonomic style review, the chapter has attempted to introduce the reader meaningfully to the key ideas and the way these ideas have been applied in research in the IS discipline. We argue that the theories which constitute the major portion of IS studies on power do not always present a clear picture regarding the source of power and application of power when applied to particular organizational events in IS implementations despite the fact that many of these studies are published in top journals. The inferred notion that power flows from resources in these theories makes it difficult to see how social change would ever be possible, especially resistance behaviors in IS implemented organizational change (e.g., how organizational change movements sometimes succeed when the parties concerned have few resources). This review was followed by an introduction to Turner’s Three-Process Theory of power as a new thread of research on power and influence in social psychology, which was based on extensive research in SIT and SCT. This new thread of research on power, which concerns stakeholders’ psychological group identity and formation as the source of power and effective operation of power through detailed processes, gives a considerably insightful explanation of power-related social and organizational change with IS implementations

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and phenomenon as resistance. Despite the weaknesses that the theory was built and developed in superficial experimental situations and it might overlook the organizational hierarchy which could involve considerable power differences, Turner’s theory has the detailed focus in the specification of both the source of power and the processes of power that is required for it to be able to be applied to particular events in organizations. More significantly, despite its potential to shedding new light on the exercise of social influence and power and its firm theoretical and empirical basis in SIT and SCT, it has not yet been used as a theoretical lens in any studies of power relations in IS implementations. Thus readers have been positioned to take up the research challenge by utilizing these ideas in future IS research studies.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Coercion: The control against people’s will by using force or threats. Control: The capacity to direct people’s behavior where they are not persuaded of or are uninterested in the validity of the specific belief or act. Influence: The capacity to persuade so as to have an effect on behavior of someone or something. Information Systems Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken through the process of initiating, planning, executing and monitoring to deliver information system services to organizations.

Legitimate Authority: The control based on people’s acceptance of one’s formal right to prescribe belief, attitudes, or actions. Persuasion: The action or process of persuading people to do or believe something. Power: The capacity to affect people or things through influence or control. Psychological Group Formation: A group process emerged from a shift towards defining the self as a social category from the self as an individual person. Resistance to Change: Overt or covert unwillingness to accept or comply with change.

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Chapter 2

Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing Yuan Li Columbia College, USA Kuo-Chung Chang Yuan Ze University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT This chapter examines factors that influence individual adoption of cloud computing measured by the intentions to use cloud computing for personal needs. Drawing upon the cloud computing and online service literature, it recognizes eleven antecedents to individual intentions to use cloud computing. An empirical test on undergraduate and graduate students shows that of these antecedents a person’s attitude toward cloud computing, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and perceived usefulness have direct impacts on intentions, while other antecedents, including perceived ease of use, transferability of computer skills, vendor reputation, perceived risks, privacy concerns, security concerns, and concerns about vendor lock-in, have indirect impacts. The study expands the view on cloud computing adoption among individual users with a multiplicity of factors and an integrative framework, and it also highlights the tradeoffs between benefits and risks in adoption decisions.

INTRODUCTION Cloud computing refers to the Information Technology (IT) that enables ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of IT resources (such as storage and applications) that can be rapidly provisioned and released over the Internet with minimal management effort or service provider interaction (Mell & Grance, 2011). It represents a new trend in developing and delivering IT service to individuals and organizations (Miller, 2008;

Sultan, 2010). It is estimated that worldwide spending on cloud computing will grow at an annual rate of 19% through 2015 (McAfee, 2011). Despite its being a fast-growing “disruptive” innovation (Sultan & van de Bunt-Kokhuis, 2012), cloud computing is expected to account for less than 5% of worldwide IT spending in 2015 due to many barriers to its adoption (McAfee, 2011). For research and practice purposes, it is important to understand what factors contribute to or hinder cloud computing adoption and what roles each

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6623-8.ch002

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factor plays in the adoption decision. To date, most research on cloud computing adoption has focused on organization users (Demirkan et al., 2008; A. Lin & Chen, 2012; Marston, Li, Bandyopadhyay, Zhang, & Ghalsasi, 2011; Sultan, 2011), but little is known about how individuals, such as college students, adopt cloud computing for personal use. Subsequently, empirical studies in this area only examine a handful of antecedents to individual adoption decisions, such as perceived usefulness of cloud computing, perceived ease of use, privacy concerns, and access to software (Ambrose & Chiravuri, 2010; Behrend, Wiebe, London, & Johnson, 2011). Many other factors that may influence individuals’ adoption decisions have not been adequately analyzed. In fact, consumers are important stakeholders in cloud computing (Bardhan, Demirkan, Kannan, Kauffman, & Sougstad, 2010; Marston, et al., 2011), as many well-known cloud solutions such as Microsoft SkyDrive (hosting Office Web App) and Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) target not only organizations but also individuals, and the latter is a critical factor in determining the popularity and success of these solutions. Therefore, it is necessary to expand knowledge on this group of users and to understand the factors that influence their adoption decisions. In this study, we examine factors that influence individual intentions to use cloud computing for personal needs. This distinguishes the subjects in this study from other organizational users such as managers, IT professionals, and employees. We aim at answering two research questions: 1) what factors, such as benefits and risks, may influence the adoption of cloud computing by individual users, and 2) how are these factors related? Instead of studying all types of cloud computing, we focus on Software as a Service (i.e., SaaS) in the public cloud, called public cloud applications or cloud applications (Marston, et al., 2011). Both SkyDrive and Google Drive are examples of SaaS, which provide file editing features such as word processing and electronic spreadsheets to users.

To answer the questions, we search the cloud computing and online service literature to recognize 11 antecedents to individual adoption of cloud computing. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989), we further categorize these antecedents into direct factors, including individual attitude toward cloud computing, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and perceived usefulness of cloud computing, and indirect factors, including perceived ease of use of cloud computing, transferability of computer skills, perceived risks, privacy concerns, security concerns, vendor lock-in, and vendor reputation. We conduct a survey to test the impacts of these factors on individual intentions to use cloud computing. The result confirms the distinct roles of the direct and indirect factors. Our study extends the cloud computing literature in two substantial ways. First, it expands the view of individual adoption of cloud computing with a more integrated theoretical framework and a multiplicity of explanatory factors. Importantly, the different impacts of the direct and indirect antecedents suggest that researchers clearly specify the roles of these factors in future research. Second, the study shows the tradeoffs between benefits and risks in individual adoption of cloud computing, highlighting the importance of modeling the tradeoffs in future research. This finding also has practical meanings for vendors to promote their cloud computing solutions. As the literature on individual adoption of cloud computing is still limited, our study therefore moves forward research in this area. The structure of the paper is as follows. First, the theoretical bases and relevant literature are studied, based on which the research model is developed. Then, the research method for testing the model is described, followed by data analysis and hypotheses testing. Finally, the contributions are discussed, and the implications for research and practice are also analyzed.

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 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

BACKGROUND Many factors are believed to have an impact on individual adoption of cloud computing. These factors include expected benefits such as lower cost of hardware and software, improved document compatibility and reliability, universal document access, and easier group collaboration and file sharing (Miller, 2008). Meanwhile, potential risks exist, such as data security and privacy issues (Miller, 2008), vendor lock-in (Armbrust et al., 2010; Sultan, 2011), and concerns about training to use cloud applications (Koehler, Anandasivam, & Dan, 2010). These benefits and risks imply that individuals may develop multiple and sometimes conflicting beliefs about cloud computing, which may all influence their adoption decision. To date, only a few factors have been empirically tested for their impact on individual adoption decisions (Ambrose & Chiravuri, 2010; Behrend, et al., 2011), and the tests suffer from limited theoretical bases (e.g., from the TAM perspective only). To expand the view on factors that influence individual adoption of cloud computing, we search the cloud computing and online service literature to recognize additional antecedents, since cloud computing represents a new way of delivering IT service over the Internet. Via an extensive search on literature and comparison of factors, we focus on the following potential antecedents: perceived risks (Chi, Yeh, & Hung, 2012; Lee, 2009), privacy concerns (Aladwani, 2001; Ray, Ow, & Kim, 2011), security concerns (Aladwani, 2001; Svantesson & Clarke, 2010), concerns about vendor lock-in (Sultan, 2011), vendor reputation (Casaló, Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2008; Ray, et al., 2011), and transferability of computer skills (Koehler, et al., 2010; Li & Chang, 2011). Perceived risks refer to the overall assessment of uncertainties and potential loss in using cloud computing. Privacy concerns refer to the perceptions that a person’s private information is being collected or used by another person or organization without their consent. Security concerns stand for the

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perceptions that user information on the Internet is subject to unauthorized access or change, which normally results in a loss. Concerns about vendor lock-in reflect the worries that user data at a cloud computing service provider cannot be transferred or converted to another provider without incurring much technological and financial costs. Vendor reputation is an overall assessment of a service provider, including its product and service expertise, social characters, customer experience, and credibility to serve customers. Finally, transferability of computer skills stands for the extent to which computer skills learned from previous software applications can be transferred to or used in new software applications. These factors, taken from different perspectives, reveal the multiple perceptions regarding cloud computing. We further draw upon TPB and TAM as the theoretical bases to examine the roles of these factors. The Theory of Planed Behavior or TPB provides a basis for studying user acceptance of IT (Dinev & Qing, 2007; Khalifa, Cheng, & Shen, 2012; Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006). It posits that a person’s intention to perform a volitional behavior, such as the use of cloud computing for personal needs, is motivated by three key factors: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) of the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Attitude refers to an individual’s overall evaluation of the performance of the behavior, such as the positive or negative outcomes that may emerge while using cloud computing. Subjective norm refers to an individual’s perception of the social normative pressures, i.e., relevant others’ beliefs that he or she should or should not perform such behavior. PBC refers to an individual’s perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior. This theory has been broadly adopted in the IT literature (J. Lin, Hock Chuan, & Kwok Kee, 2006; Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006). Meanwhile, the Technology Acceptance Model or TAM recognizes two additional factors that influence the attitude toward IT use: perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of the technology (Davis, Bagozzi,

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

& Warshaw, 1989; King & He, 2006). PU refers to a prospective user’s subjective probability that using a specific technology will increase his or her job performance within a context, and PEOU refers to the degree to which the prospective user expects the target technology to be free of effort to use. The theory suggests that PU and PEOU both influence the attitude toward the technology, and PU also has a direct impact on behavioral intention; meanwhile, PEOU has an impact on PU as well. While scholars have further extended the TAM model to TAM2 and TAM3 (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), they mostly focus on the antecedents to PU and PEOU and a few moderators, but the core constructs of the TAM model remain the same. Therefore, we adopt the original TAM model in this study. Studies have attempted to integrate TPB and TAM based on the premise that PU and PEOU influence attitude and intention, two primary factors in TPB (Dinev & Qing, 2007; Lee, 2009; Lee & Tsai, 2010; Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006). The

integrative framework, known as the Decomposed TPB (Chau & Hu, 2001; Hsu & Chiu, 2004; Taylor & Todd, 1995), provides a more comprehensive view of technology acceptance and is superior to either model. For example, Lee and Tsai (2010) use the integrative TPB-TAM framework to study online gaming, yielding a high explanation power of 70% in behavioral intention; Lee (2009) applies the framework to study online banking, yielding 80% variance explained in behavioral intention. Therefore, to improve the understanding of user acceptance of cloud computing, we apply both theories in the study and suggest that the key constructs in both theories, including attitude, subjective norm, PBC and PU, play direct roles in determining behavioral intention to use cloud computing while PEOU and the other factors recognized from the cloud computing and online service literature play indirect roles. Figure 1 shows the research model and the corresponding hypotheses. These hypotheses are developed in the next section.

Figure 1. Research model and hypotheses

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 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT In this section, we first examine the impact of the direct antecedents on behavioral intention, and then examine the roles of the indirect antecedents.

TPB and Behavioral Intention The TPB theory suggests that attitude, subjective norm, and PBC have direct impacts on behavioral intention while other antecedents such as personal beliefs about the behavioral outcomes have indirect impacts through their influence on the three core factors. First, attitude toward cloud computing captures the overall assessment of the expected outcomes of using the technology. Studies show that the use of cloud computing generates various outcomes to the users, including benefits such as lower cost, improved document compatibility, improved reliability and universal access, and also risks such as security concerns, privacy concerns and vendor lock-in (Armbrust, et al., 2010; Miller, 2008; Sultan, 2011). Many of these outcomes co-exist in cloud computing, suggesting that they together influence the intentions of the individuals. In fact, attitude is an important construct in studying individual IT use (Zhang & Li, 2005), and the cloud computing literature also suggests that managers’ and IT professionals’ attitudes toward cloud computing influence its adoption in organizations (A. Lin & Chen, 2012; McAfee, 2011). Although the attitude of individual users was not studied in the cloud computing literature, the same logic as prescribed in TPB applies. Therefore, we expect that attitude will exert its impact on individual users in the cloud computing domain, and we hypothesize: H1: A person’s attitude toward cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s behavioral intention to use cloud computing.

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Subjective norm is incorporated in a number of frameworks for individual adoption of IT (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), although this construct has not been broadly studied in the IT literature (Zhang & Li, 2005). Nevertheless, Chi et al. (2012) show that subjective norm has a positive impact on individual intention to use cloud computing, as cloud computing users incur a compliant behavior under friends’ and relatives’ influences. We argue, then, that a major advantage of cloud computing over traditional desktop computing is its ability to support online collaboration. For example, Google Drive users can work on the same files from different computers, saving efforts in sharing files among the users. This view suggests that an individual, when deciding whether to use cloud computing and what application to use, will consider the opinions or requirements of the collaborative peers in order to make online collaboration and file sharing feasible. To date, file inter-operability across cloud applications is still limited (Armbrust, et al., 2010), so that subjective norm will influence what application a user may choose for collaboration purposes. Therefore, we hypothesize: H2: Subjective norm regarding cloud computing has a positive impact on a person’s behavioral intention to use cloud computing. Finally, we expect that PBC will influence cloud computing adoption as well. Ajzen (2002) shows that PBC is an overarching concept incorporating self-efficacy beliefs and perceived controllability, and the latter two are found to drive individual use of computing technology (Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006; Taylor & Todd, 1995). This suggests that individuals with a higher level of PBC feel more comfortable with the challenges of cloud computing and are more willing to try out the new technology. Therefore, we hypothesize:

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

H3: A person’s perceived behavioral control (PBC) of using cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s behavioral intention to use cloud computing.

TAM and Behavioral Intention The TAM model prescribes PU and PEOU as two critical factors that influence individual attitude toward IT and the behavioral intention to use IT. In terms of cloud computing, the theory implies that a person’s PU and PEOU of cloud computing will influence the person’s attitude toward it, and PU also has a direct impact on intention to use. For PU, the literature recognizes a number of values of using cloud computing, such as: to use the needed application features such as file editing, storing, and sharing; to access files from virtually everywhere; and to save cost by using free solutions (Miller, 2008). For college students, particularly, Behrend et al. (2011) find that they benefit from the access to software that was otherwise costly, and easing of travel requirements (i.e., remote access to software instead of commuting to school). Although it would be valuable to recognize and empirically test all aspects of usefulness in individual use of cloud computing, the list of factors would be too long to be feasibly tested in this study. Instead, we treat PU as a summative indicator of the various benefits of using cloud computing without digging into its underlying components, a potential limitation that should be addressed in future studies. Given the above analysis, we hypothesize: H4: A person’s perceived usefulness (PU) of cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s attitude toward cloud computing. We also expect PU to have a direct impact on behavioral intention to use cloud computing. Davis et al. (1989) argue that attitude only partially mediates the impact of PU on behavioral intention: people form intentions toward a behavior that they

believe will increase their job performance (i.e., PU), over and above whatever positive or negative feelings (i.e., attitudes) may be evoked toward the behavior. They explain that intentions toward the behavior can be directly driven by the cognition of the performance impact of the behavior (i.e., PU), although the positive feelings (and therefore the attitudes) about the behavior may not be fully activated or developed to capture the impact. For example, a person may have developed negative feelings about cloud computing due to its potential risks, but the perceived usefulness may push the person to try to use the technology regardless of the negative feelings. The result is that in addition to the mediating effect of attitude, PU is significant enough to influence behavioral intention directly. We expect that the direct effect would be sustained in the cloud computing domain, as the perceived benefits of cloud computing may be significant enough to overcome the potential negative attitude toward cloud computing resulting from, for example, risk concerns. Therefore, we hypothesize: H5: A person’s perceived usefulness (PU) of cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s behavioral intention to use cloud computing. Similar to PU, PEOU would have an impact on the attitude toward cloud computing as well. A key expectation of many IT applications is to save people’s efforts in learning to use the applications, which is also true for cloud computing. For example, with the cloud computing service hosted on the provider’s server, the users do not need to worry about the complicated installation process and future upgrade issues. Also, the users have universal access to files stored on the server as long as an Internet connection is available, and this access is device-independent, as it usually requires a web browser or a lighter version of the desktop or mobile applications. Other benefits include easier group collaboration and file sharing (Miller, 2008). All these features make the

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 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

use of cloud computing more convenient than the traditional desktop applications, which would positively influence users’ attitudes toward it. We hypothesize: H6: A person’s perceived ease of use (PEOU) of cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s attitude toward cloud computing. Finally, the TAM model specifies a relationship between PEOU and PU. We expect that this relationship exists in cloud computing as well: when the user experiences fewer difficulties in using cloud computing to accomplish tasks, he or she may save efforts in accomplishing the tasks or accomplish more tasks for the same efforts (Davis, et al., 1989), therefore finding cloud computing to be more useful. We hypothesize: H7: A person’s perceived ease of use (PEOU) of cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s perceived usefulness (PU) of cloud computing. As mentioned above, many factors that explain the usefulness of cloud computing have been recognized in the literature (Miller, 2008) and some have been empirically tested (Ambrose & Chiravuri, 2010; Behrend, et al., 2011). Relatively less is known about the factors that influence PEOU of cloud computing. To address this limitation, we introduce in the next section a potential antecedent to PEOU called transferability of computer skills.

The Role of Transferability of Computer Skills Compared to other forms of computing such as desktop computing and mobile computing, cloud computing is relatively new. This suggests that potential users of cloud applications may have acquired relevant skills in other applications on a desktop or mobile device. Consequently, the transferability of their previously learned computer

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skills to cloud applications would influence how they feel about the latter, especially their perceived ease of use of cloud computing. Koehler et al. (2010) point out that cloud computing services can be either easy or complex to use, so that training is required for some services, whereas for others it is not needed. From a cost-benefit perspective, individuals would prefer to use a cloud application that gives them the same or similar look-and-feel as in the desktop or mobile computing environment, so that additional training or learning would be unnecessary. In the computer training literature, scholars find that transferability of computer skills between applications would be high if the applications share common features such as interface and functionality (Li & Chang, 2011). This seems to be the case in the cloud computing context since many cloud applications, as some industry leaders point out, mimic existing desktop applications (Armbrust, et al., 2010). Therefore, we hypothesize: H8: A person’s perceived transferability of computer skills from previous learned desktop applications to cloud computing has a positive impact on that person’s perceived ease of use (POEU) of cloud computing.

Risks in Cloud Computing Although cloud computing provides various benefits in terms of usefulness and ease of use, the potential risks should not be overlooked. Common risks related to privacy, security, integrity, availability, user control, vendor lock-in, and performance latency are discussed in literature (Sultan, 2010; Zissis & Lekkas, 2012). These risk factors all have a potential impact on user acceptance of cloud computing. According to TPB, these risks reflect the user’s expectancy of negative outcomes of cloud computing and the evaluation (such as severity) of the outcomes, and together they help to form an overall assessment of the risk levels. While a detailed analysis of several risk factors

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

is presented in the following sections, we believe that Perceived Risk is a summative indicator of the various risk factors in cloud computing, which has a negative impact on a person’s attitude toward cloud computing. Chi et al. (2012) studied the direct impact of perceived risk on intention to use cloud computing. We argue, instead, that the impact would be mediated by attitude because attitude is the direct outcome of the tradeoffs between the benefit and risk beliefs, as a study on user acceptance of online banking illustrates (Lee, 2009). Therefore, we hypothesize:

conduct due diligence on the cloud provider’s security practice before use (Classen & Fogarty, 2012). Consequently, we expect that both privacy concerns and security concerns would have an impact on users’ risk perception regarding cloud computing, and we hypothesize:

H9: A person’s perceived risk of cloud computing has a negative impact on that person’s attitude toward cloud computing.

Concern about vender lock-in is becoming a new risk factor in cloud computing. Also called data lock-in, it refers to the difficulties of the users to transfer data, documents, and programs from one cloud provider to another or in-house (Koehler, et al., 2010; Nuseibeh, 2011; Sultan, 2011). According to a study by Armbrust et al. (2010), data lock-in is one of the top ten obstacles to the growth of cloud computing. They point out that the storage for cloud computing is still essentially proprietary, so that in many cases customers cannot easily extract their data and programs from one provider to run on another. Correspondingly, users are vulnerable to price hike (such as subscribing to premium services), reliability problems (such as service outage or latency), and even providers going out of business. All these augment the risks of using cloud computing. Hence, we hypothesize:

While multiple risks exist in cloud computing, two seem to be frequently mentioned in the literature: privacy concerns and security concerns (Cheng & Lai, 2012; Ryan, 2011; Subashini & Kavitha, 2011; Svantesson & Clarke, 2010). Ironically, although cloud computing was originally designed to address the privacy and security risks by reducing hardware equipment at the user’s end and managing the computing environment by more experienced providers, it causes its own privacy and security threats, especially when the provider does not fully protect or respect users’ data (Svantesson & Clarke, 2010). This happens because user data are hosted by external providers who may take opportunistic behaviors such as unauthorized access to user data without users’ explicit consent. Because of these possibilities, privacy and security concerns exist (Hoffman, Novak, & Peralta, 1999), which deter users’ intention to use online services (Aladwani, 2001). Although legislators have been making laws and regulations to nurture a risk-free cloud computing environment (Svantesson & Clarke, 2010; Wittow & Buller, 2010), complete protection of user data is unattainable at present. Therefore, some scholars suggest that a prudent end user should

H10: A person’s security concerns about cloud computing have a positive impact on that person’s perceived risk of cloud computing. H11: A person’s privacy concerns about cloud computing have a positive impact on that person’s perceived risk of cloud computing.

H12: Concern about vendor lock-in in cloud computing has a positive impact on a person’s perceived risk of cloud computing.

The Impact of Vendor Reputation There are a number of mechanisms that cloud computing providers may apply to address users’ risk concerns, such as data encryption and account control. Nevertheless, these technological solutions only address some of the risks but not all, as

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many other risks are related to how the providers effectively adopt the solutions to create a trusted computing environment. To evaluate how effectively a provider reduces the potential risks, an essential indicator would be the reputation of the provider (Koehler, et al., 2010), which measures the general belief that the provider would behave as promised or expected. As there are many different cloud applications available, it is infeasible for the users to try those applications in order to gauge the potential risks. Therefore, the reputation of the provider, especially the perceived reputation by the user, would help to overcome the risk concerns and foster a positive attitude toward cloud computing. Therefore, we hypothesize: H13: A person’s perceived reputation of the cloud computing provider has a positive impact on that person’s attitude toward cloud computing. In addition to the above research constructs, we include several individual difference variables, including gender, age, computer experience, and Internet experience, as control variables in the study. Literature shows that these variables may play a role in user acceptance of IT (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). For example, men are normally believed to be more willing to try new technologies than women, so that they would be more willing to accept cloud computing. Similarly, younger people are more receptive to new technology than older people. Computer experience and Internet experience are another two factors that may enhance the user acceptance of cloud computing. It should be noted that the research model in Figure 1 is by no means comprehensive, as other antecedents such as compatibility, peer influence, resource facilitating condition (Taylor & Todd, 1995) and perceived playfulness (Hsu & Chiu, 2004) in the Decomposed TPB framework are not included. In fact, compatibility does not have a direct impact on attitude (Taylor & Todd, 1995)

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but is mediated by PU (Chau & Hu, 2001), and the other factors mostly relate to subjective norm and PBC, which are not the focus of this study. This potential limitation is addressed later.

RESEARCH METHOD Research Design A survey was conducted using university students to test the research model. The survey contains items that measure students’ perceptions of cloud computing with regard to the research constructs. The student subjects were selected because education is a primary target of cloud computing by some major providers such as Google and Microsoft (Sultan, 2010), and students are obvious beneficiaries of the new technology (Behrend, et al., 2011). As not all students may be familiar with the cloud computing concept even though they may be using it, tutorials were given to introduce the concept and illustrate the use of cloud computing based on two popular applications: Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive. The authors worked together to develop the tutorials and the survey questionnaire. To recruit student subjects, the authors contacted instructors from 10 Information Systems related courses (at undergraduate and graduate levels) at three research universities in Taiwan; their approval was obtained to conduct the research in their classes. A total of 368 students from these classes, including 284 undergraduate students and 84 MBA and Professional MBA students, participated in the study, and each class session introduced either SkyDrive or Google Drive. The study proceeded as follows. First, one of the authors gave the tutorial on cloud computing in each class session and demonstrated the use of either SkyDrive or Google Drive to the students. Instructions of how to access SkyDrive or Google Drive were also introduced in the tutorial. The students were then asked to use the cloud application to complete a spreadsheet task under the guidance

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

of the researcher. The students were specifically reminded that when the task was completed and saved, the documents would not be kept on local computers as usual but in a remote server of the provider. After the designated task was completed, the survey questionnaires were administered to the students. Of the 368 participants, all but one completed the questionnaires that were deemed usable, with 154 in the SkyDrive sample (Sample 1) and 213 in the Google Drive sample (Sample 2). Table 1 presents the demographic information of both samples.

Measurements

items were adopted from existing literature, except for items measuring concerns about vendor lock-in, which were derived from literature as there was no empirically tested measurement instrument. All the manifest items are presented in Appendix A. Each item was measured with a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 denoting strongly disagree to 7 denoting strongly agree. The control variables are measured by single items. Specially, gender is measured by a dichotomous variable with 0 denoting male and 1 denoting female. Age, computer experience, and Internet experience are each measured by number of years.

All the research constructs in Figure 1 are operationalized as latent variables and are each measured by a group of manifest items. The measurement

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

Table 1. Demographic information

We used the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method to analyze data due to the exploratory nature of the study and the aim to understand the explanation power of the antecedents. First, the measurement items of the latent constructs were tested for psychometric properties in each sample. Table 2 shows the results of the reliability and convergent validity tests. Internal Consistency Reliabilities (ICR; based on Cronbach’s α) and Composite Reliabilities (CR) are all above .80, indicating sufficient reliabilities of the measures in both samples. The Average Variances Extracted (AVE) are all above .60, indicating sufficient convergent validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Notably, the reliabilities and convergent validities of concerns for vendor lock-in in both samples suggest that the new scale exhibits sufficient psychometric property. Table 3 shows the correlations between the latent constructs and the square roots of AVE of the constructs (on the diagonal of the matrix) in both samples. The table shows that the square roots of AVE are greater than the corresponding inter-construct correlations, indicating sufficient discriminant validity among the constructs for both samples. In addition, factor loadings (as shown

Factors

Sample 1 (N=154)

Sample 2 (N=213)

Gender Male Female Unspecified

52.6% 42.8% 4.6%

55.9% 43.1% 1.0%

Age 20 or younger 21-30 years old 31-40 years old Over 40 years old Unspecified

48.1% 35.1% 13.0% 2.6% 1.2%

36.2% 48.4% 11.7% 3.7% -

Computer experience 5 years or less 6-10 years 11-15 years Over 15 years Unspecified

1.3% 47.4% 36.4% 13.6 1.3%

1.0% 49.8% 35.7% 13.5% -

Internet experience 5 years or less 6-10 years 11-15 years Over 15 years Unspecified

2.6% 56.5% 33.1% 6.5% 1.3%

3.8% 62.9% 27.7% 5.6% -

Average online time/day 5 hours or less 6-10 hours 11-15 hours Over 15 hours Unspecified

46.8% 39.0% 9.1% 3.9% 1.2%

56.8% 36.6% 4.2% 2.4% -

(Sample 1 - Microsoft SkyDrive; Sample 2 - Google Drive)

Test of the Measurement Items

39

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

Table 2. Reliability and convergent validity measures ICR

CR

AVE

Behavioral intention

.96 (.95)

.97 (.96)

.90 (.87)

Attitude

.93 (.94)

.95 (.96)

.82 (.85)

Subjective norm

.84 (.90)

.90 (.94)

.75 (.84)

PBC

.95 (.95)

.97 (.97)

.87 (.88)

Perceived ease of use

.90 (.90)

.93 (.93)

.76 (.77)

Perceived usefulness

.94 (.95)

.96 (.96)

.86 (.87)

Skill transfer

.94 (.95)

.95 (.96)

.70 (.75)

Perceived risk

.88 (.93)

.92 (.95)

.80 (.87)

Security concerns

.88 (.86)

.92 (.91)

.73 (.71)

Privacy concerns

.91 (.92)

.93 (.94)

.68 (72)

Vendor lock-in

.88 (.89)

.93 (.93)

.81 (.82)

Reputation

.85 (.87)

.90 (.91)

.68 (.72)

a

b

in Appendix A) are all above .70. Further testing on cross-loadings shows that the factor loading of each item on a latent construct it intends to measure is greater than the loadings on other latent constructs, indicating the lack of cross-loading and further supporting the discriminant validity.

Test of the Research Model

Note: ICR - Internal Consistency Reliability; CR - Composite Reliability; AVE - Average Variance Extracted; a - Sample 1(Microsoft SkyDrive); b - Sample 2 (Google Drive).

SmartPLS 3.0 (Ringle, Wende, & Will, 2005) was used to estimate the research model based on each sample. The bootstrapping process with 300 random samples was performed to test the significance of the model. Figure 2 presents the results, including the path coefficients, t-values (in parentheses), significance levels, and the variance explained (R2) in endogenous variables. The results show that for Sample 1 (i.e., Micro-

Table 3. Latent construct correlations and square-roots of AVEs 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

1. Behavioral Intention

.95 (.93)b

2. Attitude

.64 (.72)

.91 (.93)

3. Subjective Norm

.62 (.59)

.62 (.57)

.87 (.92)

4. PBC

.49 (.31)

.40 (.24)

.41 (.20)

.93 (.94)

5. Perceived Ease of Use

.32 (.48)

.45 (.54)

.34 (.41)

.26 (.35)

.87 (.88)

6. Perceived Usefulness

.53 (.64)

.58 (.62)

.48 (.51)

.28 (.26)

.46 (.59)

.93 (.93)

7. Skill Transfer

.37 (.37)

.40 (.45)

.38 (.37)

.44 (.40)

.54 (.62)

.34 (.39)

.84 (.87)

8. Perceived Risk

-.18 (-.06)

-.20 (.00)

-.22 (-.12)

-.02 (.19)

-.03 (.03)

-.10 (.00)

.02 (.13)

.89 (.93)

9. Security Concerns

-.17 (.04)

-.23 (.01)

-.24 (-.04)

.02 (.26)

-.06 (.09)

-.22 (.07)

.12 (.11)

.59 (.60)

.85 (.84)

10. Privacy Concerns

-.12 (.09)

-.16 (.05)

-.16 (-.01)

.12 (.26)

.07 (.08)

-.14 (.06)

.26 (.15)

.47 (.61)

.69 (.71)

.82 (.85)

11. Vendor Lock-In

.04 (.17)

.11 (.06)

-.03 (.13)

.21 (.26)

.17 (.17)

.18 (.22)

.28 (.26)

.32 (.32)

.26 (.19)

.30 (31)

.90 (.91)

12. Reputation

.20 (.38)

.24 (.37)

.02 (.34)

.10 (.41)

.07 (.36)

.08 (.33)

.03 (.40)

.00 (.21)

-.04 (.19)

.01 (.26)

.13 (.32)

12

a

.82 (.85)

Note: a – Sample 1 (Microsoft SkyDrive); b – Sample 2 (Google Drive); Square roots of the average variance extracted are shown on the diagonal of the matrix.

40

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

Figure 2. Test of research model based on samples

soft SkyDrive), all hypotheses are supported (at a significance level of .05 or better) except for H11 (Privacy concerns). None of the control variables are significant at the .05 level although they are all in the expected directions. Overall the

model explains 56% of the variance in behavioral intention. For Sample 2 (i.e., Google Drive), all hypotheses are supported (at a significance level of .05 or better) except for H9 (Perceived risks). Of the control variables, gender is found to have a

41

 Antecedents to Individual Adoption of Cloud Computing

significant impact on behavioral intention as men are more willing to adopt cloud computing than women in this sample. Overall the model explains 63% of the variance in behavioral intention. We further pooled the data from both samples and re-tested the research model; the result is shown in Figure 3. The result suggests that all hypotheses are supported at the .05 significance level. Of the control variables, gender is found to have a significant impact on behavioral intention as in Sample 2, where men are more willing to use cloud computing than women. The variance explained in behavioral intention is 58.4%. With all the control variables removed from the model, the R2 of behavioral intention still reaches 57.9%, suggesting that the control variables only make marginal contributions to the model while the theoretical constructs make the major contributions. To examine the advantage of the theoretical model in this study, we compare the model in Figure 3 to the baseline model where all antecedents (including the control variables) directly influence the dependent variable. The PLS bootstrapping results show that except for attitude (β=.36, t=5.50,

p