Location
260-057, Owen G. Glenn Building
Start Date
12-15-2014
Description
With the availability of lower cost but highly skilled software development labor from offshore regions, entrepreneurs from developed countries who do not have software development experience can utilize this workforce to develop innovative software products. In order to succeed in offshored innovation projects, the often extreme knowledge boundaries between the onsite entrepreneur and the offshore software development team have to be overcome. Prior research has proposed that boundary objects are critical for bridging such boundaries – if they are appropriately used. Our longitudinal, revelatory case study of a software innovation project is one of the first to explore the role of the software prototype as a digital boundary object. Our study empirically unpacks five use practices that transform the software prototype into a boundary object such that knowledge boundaries are bridged. Our findings provide new theoretical insights for literature on software innovation and boundary objects, and have implications for practice.
Recommended Citation
Winkler, Maike; Huber, Thomas; and Dibbern, Jens, "The Software Prototype as Digital Boundary Object – A Revelatory Longitudinal Innovation Case" (2014). ICIS 2014 Proceedings. 12.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2014/proceedings/ProjectManagement/12
The Software Prototype as Digital Boundary Object – A Revelatory Longitudinal Innovation Case
260-057, Owen G. Glenn Building
With the availability of lower cost but highly skilled software development labor from offshore regions, entrepreneurs from developed countries who do not have software development experience can utilize this workforce to develop innovative software products. In order to succeed in offshored innovation projects, the often extreme knowledge boundaries between the onsite entrepreneur and the offshore software development team have to be overcome. Prior research has proposed that boundary objects are critical for bridging such boundaries – if they are appropriately used. Our longitudinal, revelatory case study of a software innovation project is one of the first to explore the role of the software prototype as a digital boundary object. Our study empirically unpacks five use practices that transform the software prototype into a boundary object such that knowledge boundaries are bridged. Our findings provide new theoretical insights for literature on software innovation and boundary objects, and have implications for practice.