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Today, many companies are adapting their strategy, business models, products, services as well as business processes and information systems in order to expand their digitalization level through intelligent systems and services. The paper raises an important question: What are cognitive co-creation mechanisms for extending digital services and architectures to readjust the usage value of smart services? Typically, extensions of digital services and products and their architectures are manual design tasks that are complex and require specialized, rare experts. The current publication explores the basic idea of extending specific digital artifacts, such as intelligent service architectures, through mechanisms of cognitive co-creation to enable a rapid evolutionary path and better integration of humans and intelligent systems. We explore the development of intelligent service architectures through a combined, iterative, and permanent task of co-creation between humans and intelligent systems as part of a new concept of cognitively adapted smart services. In this paper, we present components of a new platform for the joint co-creation of cognitive services for an ecosystem of intelligent services that enables the adaptation of digital services and architectures.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) rely heavily on information technology (IT) to create innovations. Therefore, IT governance (ITG) is essential for education activities, particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the traditional concept of ITG is not fully equipped to deal with the current changes occurring in the digital age. Today's ITG requires an agile approach that can respond to disruptions in the HEI environment. Consequently, universities increasingly need to adopt agile strategies to ensure superior performance. This research proposes a conceptualization comprising three agile dimensions within the ITG construct: structures, processes, and relational mechanisms. An extensive qualitative evaluation of industry uncovered 46 agile governance mechanisms. Moreover, 16 professors rated these elements to assess agile ITG in their HEIs to determine those most effective for HEIs. This led to the identification of four structure elements, seven processes, and seven relational mechanisms.
With significant advancements in digital technologies, firms find themselves competing in an increasingly dynamic business environment. Therefore, the logic of business decisions is based on the agility to respond to emerging trends in a proactive way. By contrast, traditional IT governance (ITG) frameworks rely on hierarchy and standardized mechanisms to ensure better business/IT alignment. This conflict leads to a call for an ambidextrous governance, in which firms alternate between stability and agility in their ITG mechanisms. Accordingly, this research aims to explore how agility might be integrated in ITG. A quantitative research strategy is implemented to explore the impact of agility on the causal relationship among ITG, business/IT alignment, and firm performance. The results show that the integration of agile ITG mechanisms contributes significantly to the explanation of business/IT alignment. As such, firms need to develop a dual governance model powered by traditional and agile ITG mechanisms.
Information technology (IT) plays an essential role in organizational innovation adoption. As such, IT governance (ITG) is paramount in accompanying IT to allow innovation. However, the traditional concept of ITG to control the formulation and implementation of IT strategy is not fully equipped to deal with the current changes occurring in the digital age. Today’s ITG needs an agile approach that can respond to changing dynamics. Consequently, companies are relying heavily on agile strategies to secure better company performance. This paper aims to clarify how organizations can implement agile ITG. To do so, this study conducted 56 qualitative interviews with professionals from the banking industry to identify agile dimensions within the governance construct. The qualitative evaluation uncovered 46 agile governance dimensions. Moreover, these dimensions were rated by 29 experts to identify the most effective ones. This led to the identification of six structure elements, eight processes, and eight relational mechanisms.
With significant advancements in digital technologies, firms find themselves competing in an increasingly dynamic business environment. It is of paramount importance that organizations undertake proper governance mechanisms with respect to their business and IT strategies. Therefore, IT governance (ITG) has become an important factor for firm performance. In recent years, agility has evolved as a core concept for governance, especially in the area of software development. However, the impact of agility on ITG and firm performance has not been analyzed by the broad scientific community. This paper focuses on the question, how the concept of agility affects the ITG–firm performance relationship. The conceptual model for this question was tested by a quantitative research process with 400 executives responding to a standardized survey. Findings show that the adoption of agile principles, values, and best practices to the context of ITG leads to meaningful results for governance, business/IT alignment, and firm performance.
Digital transformation has changed corporate reality and, with that, firms’ IT environments and IT governance (ITG). As such, the perspective of ITG has shifted from the design of a relatively stable, closed and controllable system of a self-sufficient enterprise to a relatively fluid, open, agile and transformational system of networked co adaptive entities. Related to this paradigm shift in ITG, this paper aims to clarify how the concept of an effective ITG framework has changed in terms of the demand for agility in organizations. Thus, this study conducted 33 qualitative interviews with executives and senior managers from the banking industry in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Analysis of the interviews focused on the formation of categories and the assignment of individual text parts (codings) to these categories to allow for a quantitative evaluation of the codings per category. Regarding traditional and agile ITG dimensions, 22 traditional and 25 agile dimensions were identified. Moreover, agile strategies within the agile ITG construct and ten ITG patterns were identified from the interview data. The data show relevant perspectives on the implementation of traditional and new ITG dimensions and highlight ambidextrous aspects in ITG frameworks.
IT Governance (ITG) is crucial due to its significant impact on enabling innovation and enhancing firm performance. Hence, in the last decade ITG has become important in both academic and in practical research. Although several studies have investigated individual aspects of ITG success and its impact on single determinants, the causal relationship of how ITG promotes firm performance remains unclear. Thus, a more comprehensive understanding about the link between ITG and firm performance is needed. To address this gap, this research aims at understanding how ITG and firm performance are related. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (1) to create an overview on how current research structures the link between ITG mechanisms and firm performance, (2) to uncover key constructs as potential mediators or moderators on the general link between ITG and performance, and (3) to set the basis for future studies on the ITG-firm performance relationship.
Digital transformation has changed corporate reality and, with that, firms’ IT environments and IT governance (ITG). As such, the perspective of ITG has shifted from the design of a relatively stable, closed and controllable System of a self-sufficient Enterprise to a relatively fluid, open, agile and transformational system of networked co-adaptive entities. Related to this paradigm shift in ITG, this paper aims to clarify how the concept of an effective ITG framework has changed in terms of the demand for agility in organizations. Thus, this study conducted 33 qualitative interviews with executives and senior managers from the banking industry in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Analysis of the interviews focused on the formation of categories and the assignment of individual text parts (codings)
to these categories to allow for a quantitative evaluation of the codings per category. Regarding traditional and agile ITG dimensions, 22 traditional and 25 agile dimensions in terms of structures, processes and relational mechanisms were identified. Moreover, agile strategies within the agile ITG construct and ten ITG patterns were identified from the interview data. The data show relevant perspectives on the implementation of traditional and new ITG dimensions and highlight ambidextrous aspects in ITG in the German-speaking banking industry.
Purpose: This study aims to conceptualize and test the effect of consumers´ perceptions of complaint handling quality (PCHQ) in both traditional and social media channels.
Design/methodology/approach: Study 1 systematically reviews the relevant literature and then carries out a consumer and manager survey. This approach aims to conceptualize the dimensionality of PCHQ. Study 2 tests the effect of PCHQ on key marketing outcomes. Using survey data from a German telecommunications company, the study provides an explanation for the differences in outcomes across traditional (hotline) and social media channels.
Findings: Study 1 reveals that PCHQ is best conceptualized as a five dimensional construct with 15 facets. There are significant differences between customers and managers in terms of the importance attached to the various dimensions. The construct shows strong psychometric properties with high reliability and validity, thereby opening up opportunities to treat these facets as measurement indicators for the construct. Study 2 indicates that the effect of PCHQ on consumer loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is stronger in social media than in traditional channels. Procedural justice and the overall quality of service solutions emerge as general dimensions of PCHQ because they are equally important in both channels. In contrast, interactional justice, distributive justice and customer effort have varying effects across the two channels.
Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the understanding of a firm´s channel selection for complaint handling in two ways. First, it evaluates and conceptualizes the PCHQ construct. Second, it compares the effects of different dimensions of PCHQ on key marketing outcomes across traditional and socialmedia channels.
Practical implications: This study enables managers to understand the difference in efficacy attached to different dimensions of PCHQ. It further highlights such differences across traditional and social media service channels. For example, the effect of complaint handling on social media is of particular importance when generating WOM communication.
Originality/value: This study offers a comprehensive conceptualization of the PCHQ construct and reveals the general and channel contingent effects of its different dimensions on key marketing outcomes.
Organizational agility may be an antidote against threats from volatile, uncertain, complex, or ambiguous corporate environments. While agility has been extensively examined in manufacturing enterprises, comparably less is known about agility in knowledge-intensive organizations. As results may not be transferable, there is still some confusion about how agility in knowledge-intensive organizations can be characterized, what factors facilitate its development, what its organizational effects are, and what environmental conditions favor these effects. This study closes these gaps by presenting a systematic literature review on agility in knowledge-intensive organizations. A systematic literature search led to a sample of 37 relevant papers for our review. Integrating the knowledge-based view and a dynamic capabilities perspective, we (1) present different relevant conceptualizations of organizational agility, (2) discuss relevant knowledge management-related as well as information technology-related capabilities that support the development of organizational agility, and (3) shed light on the moderating role of environmental conditions in enhancing organizational agility and its effect on organizational performance. This academic paper adds value to theory by synthesizing existing research on agility in knowledge-intensive organizations. It furthermore may serve as a map for closing research gaps by proposing an extensive agenda for future research. Our study expands existing literature reviews on agility with its specific focus on a knowledge-intensive context and its integration of the research streams of knowledge management capabilities as well as information technology capabilities. It integrates relevant organizational knowledge management practices and the use of knowledge management systems to ensure superior performance effects. Our study can serve as a base for future examinations of organizational agility by illustrating fruitful topics for further examination as well as open questions. It may also provide value to practitioners by showing what factors favor the development of agility in knowledge-intensive organizations and what organizational effects can be achieved under which conditions.
Organizations that operate under uncertainty need to cultivate their ability to manage their primary resource, knowledge, accordingly. Under such conditions, organizations are required to harvest knowledge from two sources: to explore knowledge that is to be found outside the organization as well as exploit knowledge that is contained within. In a knowledge management context these exploitation and exploration activities have been conceptualized as knowledge ambidexterity. While ambidexterity has been studied extensively in contexts as manufacturing or IT, the notion of knowledge ambidexterity remains scarce in current knowledge management research. This study illustrates knowledge ambidexterity and elaborates its positive impact on organizational performance. Our study furthermore answers the question of how the use of enterprise social media (ESM) can facilitate the performance effects of knowledge ambidexterity. Drawing on the theory of communication visibility, we argue that ESM (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.) allow employees to communicate unhindered while making these communications visible. This allows for capturing tacit knowledge within these communications - this form of knowledge is generally hard to codify and can be a source of competitive edge. With respect to knowledge ambidexterity, ESM use can capture tacit knowledge aspects originating from inside and outside the organization, which fosters the development of a competitive advantage and, thus, supports its positive effect on organizational performance. This paper contributes to IT-enabled ambidexterity research in two aspects: (1) It sheds light on knowledge ambidexterity and, thereby, addresses a major practical challenge for knowledge-intensive organizations, and (2) it elaborates on the effects that ESM use can have on the relationship between knowledge ambidexterity and organizational performance. This work-in-progress paper offers a better understanding of the phenomenon of ambidexterity in a knowledge context, while providing insights on the facilitating role of ESM. Our research serves as a foundation for future empirical examinations of the concept of knowledge ambidexterity.
This paper provides an introduction to the topic of enterprise social networks (ESN) and illustrates possible applications, potentials, and challenges for future research. It outlines an analysis of research papers containing a literature overview in the field of ESN. Subsequently, single relevant research papers are analysed and further research potentials derived therefrom. This yields seven promising areas for further research: (1) user behaviour; (2) effects of ESN usage; (3) management, leadership, and governance; (4) value assessment and success measurement; (5) cultural effects, (6) architecture and design of ESN; and (7) theories, research designs and methods. This paper characterises these areas and articulates further research directions.
This research evaluates current measurement scales for ambidexterity and proposes a new approach for the measurement of this important construct. We argue that current measurement approaches may be unsuitable to capture the concept of ambidexterity. Through a systematic scale development process, we derive a measurement scale with dual items that simultaneously refer to both dimensions, exploitation and exploration, thus reflecting the true nature of ambidexterity. An extensive pre-test with 39 executives suggests that our scale is suitable for capturing ambidexterity. Our measurement model enhances conceptual clarity of ambidexterity and can serve as a base for future investigations of the concept.
Knowledge-intensive organizations primarily rely on knowledge and expertise as key strategic resources. In light of economic, social, and health-related crises in recent years, such organizations increasingly need to operate in dynamic environments. However, examinations on dynamic capabilities specifically in knowledge-intensive organizations remain scarce. This is remarkable given the role that knowledge holds as an economic resource in developed countries. To provide an explanation of how knowledge-intensive organizations can prevail among competitors under dynamic conditions, the authors integrate two literature streams in a knowledge-intensive context: the knowledge-based view and the dynamic capabilities approach. The knowledge-based view focuses on the nature of organizational knowledge as a critical resource and illustrates specific properties of knowledge in contrast to traditional means of labor such as capital. The dynamic capabilities approach on the other hand is about a firm's ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external resources and can be drawn on to explain organizational success through adaptation to dynamic contexts. In this conceptual study, the authors propose a research model linking knowledge processes to organizational performance through two different paths: (1) Operational capabilities permit organizations to make their living in the present and refer to efficiency. (2) Dynamic capabilities allow organizations to change their resource base and, therefore, enable their long-term survival in dynamic environments by focusing on effectiveness. Additionally, the authors hypothesize a moderating effect of environmental dynamics on the relationship between dynamic capabilities and performance. The study offers a comprehensive overview on the interplay between dynamic capabilities and the knowledge-based view, offering valuable insights for both researchers and practitioners in the field.
Purpose
As a response to the increased frequency of disruptive events and intense competition, organizational agility has become a key concept in organizational research. Fostering organizational agility requires leveraging knowledge that exists both outside (exploration) and inside (exploitation) the organization. This research tests the so-called ambidexterity hypothesis, which claims that a balance between exploration and exploitation leads to increased organizational outcomes, including the development of organizational agility. Complementing previously established measurement models on ambidexterity, this research proposes an alternative measurement model to analyze how ambidexterity can enhance organizational agility and, indirectly, performance, taking into consideration the moderating effect of environmental competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of existing measurement models for ambidexterity shows that tension, a crucial aspect of ambidexterity, is often neglected. The authors, therefore, develop a new measurement model of ambidexterity to incorporate ambidexterity-induced tension. Using this measurement model, they examine the effect of ambidexterity on the development of entrepreneurial and adaptive agility as well as performance.
Findings
Ambidexterity positively influences both entrepreneurial and adaptive agility, indicating that a balance between exploration and exploitation has superior organizational effects. This finding confirms the ambidexterity hypothesis with respect to organizational agility. Furthermore, both entrepreneurial and adaptive agility drive organizational performance. These two indirect effects via agility fully mediate the impact of ambidexterity on organizational performance. Finally, environmental competitiveness positively moderates the relationship between ambidexterity and adaptive agility.
Originality/value
The findings extend research on ambidexterity by showing its positive effects on organizational agility. Furthermore, the study proposes an alternative operationalization to capture the ambidexterity construct that may lay the groundwork for further applications of the ambidexterity concept.
In recent years, the rise of social media received significant importance in marketing research and practice. Consequently, interfaces to social media platforms have also been integrated into Business-to-Business (B2B) salesforce applications, although very little is as yet known about their usage and general impact on B2B sales performance. This paper evaluates 1) the conceptualization of social media usage in dyadic B2B relationships; 2) the effects of a more differentiated usage construct on customer satisfaction; 3) antecedents of social media usage on multiple levels; and 4) the effectiveness of social media usage for different types of cus-tomers. The framework presented here is tested cross-industry against data collected from dyadic buyer-seller relationships in the IT service industry. The results elucidate the precondi-tions and the impact of social media usage strategies in B2B sales relations.
The question of why individuals adopt information technology has been present in the information systems research since the past quarter century. One of the most used models for predicting the technology usage was introduced by Fred David: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). It describes the influence of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on attitude, behavioral intention and system usage. The first two mentioned factors in turn are influenced by external variables. Although a plethora of papers exists about the TAM , an extensive analysis of the role of the external variables in the model is still missing. This paper aims to give an overview ove the most important variables. In an extensive literature review, we identified 763 relevant papers, found 552 unique single extenal variables, characterized the most important of them, and described the frequency of their appearance. Additionally, we grouped these variables into four categories (organizational characteristis, system characteristics, user personal characteristics, and other variables). Afterwards we discuss the results and show implications for theory and practice.
In recent times, enterprises have been increasingly dealing with the use of social media in internal communication and collaboration. In particular, so-called Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) promise meaningful benefits for the nature of work in corporations. However, these platforms often suffer from poor degrees of use. This raises the question of what initiatives enterprise can launch in order to stimulate the vitality of ESN. Since the use of ESN is often voluntary, individual adoption by employees need to be examined to find an answer. Therefore, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was selected for the theoretical foundation of this paper. Following a qualitative research approach, the available research provides an analysis of expert interviews on specific ESN implementation strategies and included factors. In order to extensively conceptualize and generalize these strategic considerations, we conducted an inductive coding process. The results reveal that ESN implementation strategies can be understood as a multi-level construct (individual vs. group vs. organizational level) containing different factors dependent on the degree of documentation and intensity. This research in progress describes a qualitative evaluation as a preliminary study for further quantitative analysis of an ESN adoption model.
Der Siegeszug von Social Media im privaten Umfeld hat die Vorteile dieser Kommunikationswerkzeuge aufgezeigt. Unternehmen versuchen, diese Erfolge für sich zu nutzen und setzen Social Media für ihre Kommunikationsaktivitäten ein. In der externen Kommunikation etwa ermöglichen diese Werkzeuge einen schnellen und unkomplizierten Nachrichtenaustausch mit Kunden oder helfen Kundenexpertise in organisationale Prozesse, etwa Produktentwicklung oder Kundenbeschwerdemanagement, zu integrieren. Auch in der internen Kommunikation entstehen durch den Einsatz von Social Media neue Kanäle. Eine spezielle Gruppe von Social-Media Werkzeugen für die interne Kommunikation und Kollaboration wird als Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) bezeichnet.
This research addresses the question of why employees use enterprise social networks (ESN). Against the background of technology acceptance research, we propose an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, adapt it to an ESN context, and test our model against data from ESN users of large and medium-sized enterprises. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling to gain insights into the determinants of ESN use. This paper contributes to ESN acceptance research by evaluating a model containing determinants of ESN use. It also examines the effects of determinants on five different usage dimensions of ESN. The results reveal that facilitating conditions are the main driver of ESN use while the impact of intention to use is comparably small. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.