| Does Tenure Pay in Information Systems? |
| | Slaughter, Sandra | Carnegie Mellon U. | sandras@andrew.cmu.edu | (412) 268-2308 |
| | Ang, Soon | Nanyang Technological U. | asang@ntu.edu.sg | 011-65-790-4717 |
| | Li, Wendy | Carnegie Mellon U. | bli@andrew.cmu.edu | (412) 268-6266 |
| | The transformation to a knowledge-based economy has created robust demand
for workers highly skilled in the development of information systems.
In this environment, pay is an important lever for organizations in
recruiting and retaining information systems (I/S) professionals.
Classical human capital theory suggests that pay will rise with
organizational tenure to reflect increases in the worker's competence
from on-the-job experience. However, in information technology, technical
competencies erode over time as the technology advances. Pay may not rise
with organizational tenure. We examine the relationship between pay and
tenure using salary data collected on 1,471 software development
professionals in Singapore. We find that pay increases with organizational
tenure at an increasing rate for the more managerially oriented I/S job
incumbents (such as project leaders and application development managers).
However, for those professionals in more technically oriented I/S jobs
(such as programmers and analysts), salary increases at a decreasing rate
and eventually declines. Our results suggest the importance of controlling
for job type (as an indicator of firm-specific human capital) in examining
the pay-tenure relationship, particularly in the domain of information
systems where technical competence erodes. |
| | Keywords: Compensation; Management of Information Syst; Human Capital Theory |
| Linking IS-User Partnerships to IS Performance: A Socio-Cognitive Perspective |
| | Subramani, Mani R. | U. of Minnesota | msubramani@csom.umn.edu | (612) 624-3522 |
| | Henderson, John C. | Boston College | JCHENDER@BU.EDU | (617) 353-6142 |
| | Cooprider, Jay | Bentley College | JCooprider@Bentley.edu | (617) 891-2952 |
| | The notion that effective relationships between groups improve coordination, cooperation and consequently performance has considerable appeal in a broad range of contexts. In particular, partnerships are suggested as critical organizational mechanisms enabling information systems groups and their clients within organizations to utilize existing information technology investments already in place and to tap the potential offered by information technologies. This paper proposes a theoretical model drawing from socio-cognitive theory, highlighting a convergence in perspectives on key issues between the groups as the central mechanism underlying partnerships. Data from a survey of both sides of 95 IS-User relationships in multiple firms provides support for the model and the hypothesized relationship between convergence in perspectives and the performance of IS groups. |
| | Keywords: IS-User Partnerships; Socio-Cognitive Theory; IS Performance |
| The Impact of IS Contextual Factors on the Adoption of TQM in Systems Development |
| | Ravichandran, Thiagarajan | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | ravit@rpi.edu | (518) 276 2035 |
| | Considerable attention has been directed toward developing a more complete understanding of innovation adoption by IS units. Much of this research has focused on adoption of technological innovations and limited research has focused on adoption of administrative innovations. This paper focuses on an administrative innovation that is increasingly becoming popular among IS units, namely Total Quality Management (TQM). A synthesis of the IS innovation and TQM literatures was conducted to identify environmental, organizational and task-related factors that should relate to both the earliness and the level of TQM adoption. The relationships between the identified variables and TQM adoption were examined using data collected from 123 IS units in Fortune 1000 firms and large government agencies in the U.S. The results indicate that TQM adoption by IS units is influenced by the host organization's quality orientation and factors internal to the IS department including IS management support for quality, the presence of a separate quality assurance function and the structural complexity of the IS department. Implications of this study for theory, future research and practice are discussed.
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| | Keywords: Systems Development; IS Management; Innovation Adoption |
| Information Systems in the Chinese Business Culture: The Challenge to Configurational Theories |
| | Martinsons, Maris G. | City U. of Hong Kong | mgmaris@cityu.edu.hk | (852) 2788-7958 |
| | Wong, Ada | City U. of Hong Kong | isada@cityu.edu.hk | (852) 2788-7654 |
| | Gregory, Frank H. | Freelance consultant and journalist | isfrank@iname.com | (852) 2788-8490 |
| | There is a growing interest in configurational theories as researchers
identify multidimensional constellations of conceptually distinct
organizational characteristics that commonly occur together and
examine their relationship to assorted input and output variables.
A configurational model incorporating well-known typologies of
competitive strategy, organizational structure and corporate culture
was developed and used in a recent study of information systems
(IS) strategy and information technology (IT) application.
Both the individual typologies and the composite model were expected
to be helpful for understanding the role of IS in the Chinese language
newspaper industry in Hong Kong. However, they were found to have
very limited applicability and almost no explanatory power in the
research context. These deficiencies are linked to an emerging stream
of explanatory literature. The results suggest that the interrelateness
and inseparability of business and politics in places like the People's
Republic of China, the world's most populous country, and the
distinctive nature of Chinese management pose an acute challenge to
many existing IS management precriptions, models and theories.
This challenge could be addressed by developing more robust and
complex models and theories. Alternatively, more innovative approaches,
such as action research and soft systems methodology, could be used
to study how IS strategy and IT application are shaped by cultural and
institutional forces. Nevertheless, the pluralistic and dynamic nature
of management philosophies and practices is likely to frustrate those
pursuing widely-applicable IS management theories and precriptions. |
| | Keywords: Configurational theory; Competitive strategy; Chinese management |