دانلود رایگان ترجمه مقاله انعطاف پذیری تیم توسعه سیستم های اطلاعات و سرمایه اجتماعی خارجی (نشریه الزویر 2011)

انعطاف پذیری تیم توسعه سیستم های اطلاعات و سرمایه اجتماعی خارجی

External social capital and information systems development team flexibility

Abstract

Context ISD research based on the socio-technical perspective suggests that two sources of socio-technical change have a bearing on the performance of information systems development (ISD) projects: business requirements and development technology. To enhance project effectiveness, ISD teams need to enhance their flexibility in the face of the constant changes taking place from business and technical environments in which they operate. Flexibility is conceptualized as an outcome of capability development through constantly integrating and reconfiguring available resources within and outside of the organization where the team is embedded.

Objective The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a team’s external social capital and team flexibility. More specifically, based on social capital theory, this study argues that external social capital leads to IS team flexibility, which in turn contributes to the successful project performance.

Method A survey design was selected to collect data and test the proposed model. A snowballing strategy was employed to collect data. 118 information systems developers participated in the survey and the model was analyzed using partial least squares regression.

Results: The findings show that, in general, the ISD teams’ external social capital do contribute to the team’s response to changes. However, they exhibit unique impacts on ISD team flexibility respectively.  Results The findings show that, in general, the ISD teams’ external social capital does contribute to the team’s response to changes. However, they exhibit unique impacts on ISD team flexibility respectively.

Conclusion The various external social capitals have distinctive effects on a team’s flexibility. Specifically, horizontal relationships are positively associated with both business and technology flexibility. Vertical relationships are positively associated with business flexibility and market relationships technology flexibility. ISD managers should establish robust relationships with its high-ups, other lateral units, and third parties outside in the market. They also need to be more adaptive to the increasingly volatile socio-technical environment, and proactively search, exploit, upgrade, and integrate resources that are essential to the development of system development team flexibility.

1 Introduction

According to a survey conducted by research firm Standish Group, United States investment in information systems development (ISD) projects in 2001 was four times that reported in 1990. However, success rate was a mere 28% [35]. Figures remained troublesome in 2009. ISD project success rate was 32%, 44% of projects were over budget and time estimated, and 24% failed outright [44]. These statistics suggest that many efforts to improve project management barely help to increase success. A high success rate is crucial to technology-backboned modern organizations. Project failures not only waste resources and lead to foregone business opportunities, but impact reputations and profits as well.

ISD research based on the socio-technical perspective suggests that performance of ISD projects is excessively affected by rapid changes in both business requirement and systems development technology [5,21,24]. Therefore, system development team flexibility (SDTF) has been proposed to play an essential role in determining project performance to hedge against high-velocity environments [14,17]. To do so, ISD teams need to integrate and reconfigure available resources in a timely manner. Based on dynamic capability perspective, SDTF in this study is conceptualized as an outcome of capability development through constantly integrating and reconfiguring available resources within and without the organization where the team is embedded [27].

Previous works on software development largely focused on a wide range of team processes, practices, or routines associated with development activities (e.g., planning, execution, and result appraisal) in an attempt to facilitate control of the project [11,29]. However, in volatile socio-technical environments, these practices become less effective as outputs of ISD projects tend to evolve throughout the development process [8]. In addition, resources available for a team are often circumscribed. This means that teams cannot possibly possess all the requisite resources, potentially restricting their options in response to problems due to abrupt and unexpected changes and eventually influencing project performance. To enhance project effectiveness, ISD teams are called upon to span traditional boundary and establish external linkages to access informative, financial, and administrative resources and support in a timely manner [7,12]. However, current research lacks a theoretical explanation on what these external linkages are and how they facilitate ISD teams to deliver systems successfully.

This research employs the social capital theory as theoretical lens to elucidate how external social capital enhances project performance. It argues that resources embedded in the interaction ties lead to resources exchanged and combination, which in turn result in value creation [45]. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a team’s external social capital and team flexibility. It argues that social capital flowing from entrenched external connections lead to ISD team flexibility, which in turn contributes to successful project performance at the end. The underlying thrust is that external relationships developed through protracted interactions provide conduits through which valuable resources can be exchanged and integrated by ISD team. By integrating and reassembling exchanged resources, the ISD team can generate innovative ideas and problem solving solutions to respond effectively to changes arising from capricious socio-technical contexts.

We validated the proposed research model by surveying 118 information systems developers across various industries. Findings reveal that, in general, ISD teams’ external social capitals do contribute to project performance through team flexibility. However, each type of external social capital exhibited unique impact on flexibility outcomes. Results of this study likewise confirmed that ISD team flexibility directly impacts project performance. Both academic and practical implications of findings are discussed toward the end of this paper.