Affiliated Organization

itAIS, Italy

Abstract

Our research questions are: - What factors affect the design and implementation of IS Performance Management Systems? -- How do these factors influence the shape of IS Performance Management Systems, and how can they be managed? In order to answer these questions, we employed an action research framework to facilitate the collection and analysis of data. We decided to apply this research methodology for two reasons: - the factors we wish to investigate are not explicit in the organization and thus practitioners are not willing to discuss them with external persons. We believe that researchers are only able to understand these elements if they work with practitioners; - companies need help to handle the different implementation phases, reach an agreement on the achieved results and complete the implementation project. The thesis is set out as follows. Chapter One describes the background to IS Performance Management Systems research. In particular it summarizes the most important research already carried out and organizes it into four main streams of research. Chapter Two details the action research methodology and justifies the choice of it. It pays particular attention to the operationalisation of action research projects undertaken in this research, the data collection methods and the role of researchers. Chapter Three draws upon the literature presented earlier so as to develop a research framework. This performs the function of identifying where our research sits within a broader scheme. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven describe the cases in which the action research was undertaken and the action research cycle followed in each project. Chapter Eight analyses the four action research projects using the Research framework and discusses the results. Chapter Nine presents contributions and conclusions of this research and possible future research in the area of IS Performance Management.

Volume

9

Issue

63

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