Understanding knowledge integration and social capital in inter organization IS projects

UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS MAMATA BHANDAR (B.Tech., JNTU, India; M.Comp, NUS, Singapore) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been made possible with the support and encouragement of many people and I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to each one of them First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Prof Bernard C.Y Tan and Dr Shan-Ling Pan for their guidance on this thesis Both of their support and understanding has been instrumental for this thesis and I am really grateful to them for that Dr Bernard has been a great source of support in providing resources and direction for the study There are three very significant lessons that I have learnt from him First, he always encouraged me to boldly present my work in every forum and created opportunities for me to so which have made me much more confident about my work When I was uncertain about submitting my thesis proposal he had said: “PhD is a learning process; you may not always be right, but you have learnt something” Ever since, I am less apprehensive about the outcome and focus more on the process and learning Second, he taught me the importance of simplicity and clarity From the complex writing I would drown myself into; he rescued me by asking me to simplify using simple, clear and short sentences Only I would know how much easier writing then became Last, but not the least, I owe my presentation skills to him When I sent him a deck of 37 slides for my PhD qualifier, he said they were too many and that he only used 10 slides for a 45 minute talk in ICIS That seemed impossible for me, yet became my goal for any presentation since Today, I can say that I am close to that goal Indeed, his lessons have made me a much better writer, teacher, presenter and a much more confident researcher ii Dr Pan has been a true friend, philosopher and guide He has always been there, be it for discussions on research, my teaching or any aspect of my life in NUS When I decided to embark on this journey it was mainly due to the comfort I had in working with him He has always made the impossible seem possible, reinforced my strengths and never tired in giving pep talks every time I needed them He has also forced me to think harder and any discussion with him was a refreshing intellectual exercise I used to walk into his office with a vague idea and he always helped me make sense of the ideas, put the ideas together and weave a story around it I must say, I have yet to learn this skill from him It was also amazing how he could keep track of all of his students’ cases, theories and working papers His confidence in me and in my work gave me all the encouragement I needed to keep going He has literally hand held me during the initial stages on this journey and painstakingly taught me the basics of doing case study research He has indeed been an invaluable source of inspiration Other faculty members at the National University of Singapore and at external universities have also contributed to this thesis Dr Atreyi Kankanhalli, Dr Danny Poo, Dr Bock-Gee Woo, Dr Rajiv Sabherwal, Dr Michael Myers, Dr Anandhi Bharadwaj, Dr Lynne Markus and Dr Carol Saunders provided valuable feedback and assessment at the various IS workshops, conferences and seminars in which I have presented and participated Several anonymous editors and reviewers of journals and conferences have also offered comments that have made this a better piece of work iii Several other students in and outside the department have been good friends and their understanding, time and support have been invaluable I thank Sitoh LiLing for her assistance during the very initial stages of this study Calvin Chan, has been a very good companion and confidant during this long journey The philosophies on life we shared and the infrequent yet wonderful tennis sessions were refreshing Every time I fret over rejections and slack in work, he made me see the brighter things in my life and cheered me up I would also like to thank my other colleagues and friends in the department for giving comments to better my work and being excellent companions in this journey Many friends outside of NUS have been a great source of strength Not only did they help me unwind but they also made every simple achievement of mine seem so great and urged me to keep going These friends and all my colleagues in NUS always reinforced my strength in juggling my thesis, teaching and my roles as a mother and wife Their kind words made me feel really special and less critical of me when I was late for deadlines due to family commitments I thank my husband, Shareen, for his support and more importantly for believing in me His constant reassurance that I could it kept me going He has been around more and has been more of a mother to my son than me My four year old son, Keyur has been a darling and has never been demanding He has grown up seeing me with my laptop all the time and has never expected me to play with him or entertain him He made it so much easier for me to complete this thesis apart from serving as an excellent stress reliever He made life seem so much more complete and always gave me a reason to smile I really hope to make it up to him and my husband for all their love and understanding, I thank my parents, parents-in-law and other family members whose help and encouragement kept me going iv CONTENTS TITLE I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II CONTENTS V SUMMARY VII LIST OF TABLES IX LIST OF FIGURES X 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS AND IS PROJECTS 1.2 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 1.3 SOCIAL CAPITAL AND KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 2.2 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION 13 2.3 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS .15 2.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION CHALLENGES IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 18 2.5 SOCIAL CAPITAL 20 2.6 SOCIAL CAPITAL – THE OMA VIEW 23 2.6.1 Opportunity Source of Social Capital 24 2.6.2 Motivation Source of Social Capital 26 2.6.3 The Ability Source of Social Capital .28 2.6.4 Social Capital definition for this study 29 2.7 LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARY 30 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 INTERPRETIVE CASE STUDY APPROACH 32 3.2 MULTIPLE CASE STUDY RESEARCH .36 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 38 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 42 4.0 CASE 1: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 45 4.1 BACKGROUND 45 4.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .48 4.3 THE PROJECT 52 4.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION 54 4.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .59 4.6 OMA ANALYSIS 64 4.6.1 Opportunity 67 4.6.2 Motivation 71 4.6.3 Ability 75 v 5.0 CASE 2: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 80 5.1 BACKGROUND 80 5.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .83 5.3 THE PROJECT 84 5.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION .102 5.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .108 5.6 OMA ANALYSIS 111 5.6.1 Opportunity 113 5.6.2 Motivation 117 5.6.3 Ability 120 6.0 CASE 3: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS .123 6.1 BACKGROUND 123 6.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .125 6.3 THE PROJECT .126 6.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION .138 6.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .142 6.6 OMA ANALYSIS 145 6.2.1 Opportunity 147 6.2.2 Motivation 151 6.2.3 Ability 155 7.0 CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS 157 7.1 KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 158 7.2 UNDERSTANDING INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 163 7.2.1 Identifying complementary specialized knowledge clusters 164 7.2.2 Providing a structure for knowledge clusters to interact 168 7.2.3 Motivating concerted effort of all knowledge clusters for effective knowledge integration .171 7.3 SOCIAL CAPITAL CONDITIONS THE KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION ENVIRONMENT 173 7.3.1 Opportunity provides access to knowledge clusters and facilitates knowledge location 175 7.3.2 Motivation provides the raison d’etre for Knowledge clusters’ involvement in the knowledge integration process 182 7.3.3 Ability provides dependency between knowlegde clusters for harmonious knowledge integration 189 7.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL CAPITAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 196 8.0 IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 199 8.1 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 199 8.2 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS 202 8.3 CONCLUSION 207 8.3.1 Limitations 208 8.3.2 Future research .210 APPENDIX A - REFERENCES .211 APPENDIX B –SAMPLE QUESTIONS 230 vi SUMMARY This study was motivated by the growing number of inter-organizational arrangements, specifically for the implementation of outsourced IS development projects Since such projects require multiple expertise and specialized knowledge areas to be integrated for the purpose of a project and are bound by schedule, budget and design/requirement it seemed imperative to examine and understand how knowledge is integrated in such arrangements Most often the knowledge bases required for the projects are located in many different organizations and not in one single organization The problem is then of inter-organizational knowledge integration; integrating multiple and diverse knowledge bases across organizations Literature on knowledge integration in various settings was reviewed to help shed light on the study Most studies had one thing in common, they all indicate that social capital, a resource based on social relationships, can be important for and can influence knowledge integration positively Based on the literature review and the motivation to understand inter-organizational knowledge integration in IS projects a qualitative empirical study of three inter-organizational IS projects is embarked on Specifically the study aimed at: understanding knowledge integration in interorganizational IS projects and explicating the role of social capital in the phenomenon Based on evidence from the three cases, the thesis finds that interorganizational knowledge integration in IS projects occurs through knowledge clusters that are groups representing the various knowledge bases required for the project It is also observed that for inter-organizational knowledge integration, the vii knowledge clusters are identified, a structure is provided for their interaction and they are motivated to participate in the knowledge process In identifying the influence of social capital on knowledge integration in inter-organizational IS projects the study finds how the different aspects of social capital influence knowledge integration: The opportunity or structural dimension of social capital provides access to the knowledge clusters, the ability dimension provides shared understanding between the clusters and the motivational dimension provides a raison d’etre for the clusters to participate in the knowledge integration process The thesis not only demonstrates the influence of social capital but also elicits interventions that can help leverage social capital for effective knowledge integration in inter-organizational IS projects The concept of knowledge clusters is introduced in this study to provide a simplified and multidimensional understanding of the complex phenomenon of inter-organizational knowledge integration It also informs practitioners of a knowledge-cluster based strategy to manage inter-organizational IS projects In explicating the influence of social capital on knowledge integration the study also develops a conceptualization of social capital suitable for the context of inter-organizational IS projects It thus provides direction to practitioners on leveraging a resource that exist naturally albeit in different degrees in different organizations, for the benefit of the project viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Data Overview………………………………………………………… 38 Table 3.2: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 41 Table 3.3: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 41 Table 3.4: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 42 Table 4.1: Collaborating Organizations in Case 1………………….……………….48 Table 4.2: Knowledge Clusters in Case1 ………………………………………….59 Table 4.3: OMA Analysis of Case 1……………………………………………… 66 Table 5.1: Knowledge Clusters in Case2 …………………………………………108 Table 5.2: OMA Analysis of Case 2……………………………………………….112 Table 6.1: Knowledge Clusters in Case 3……………………………………… …142 Table 6.2: OMA Analysis of Case 3……………………………………………….146 Table 7.1: Cross-case Analysis………………………………………………… …161 Table 7.2: Understanding Inter-organizational through knowledge clusters……….164 Table 7.3: Social Capital and Inter-organizational Knowledge Integration……… 175 Table 7.4: Cross-Case OMA Analysis ………………………….………… …….196 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The Knowledge Cluster……………… …… ………………………….11 Figure 2.2: Social Capital Framework…………………………………………….…30 Figure 4.1: Interaction of Knowledge Clusters in Case ……………………… 63 Figure 5.1: Interaction of Knowledge Clusters in Case …………………………109 Figure 6.1: Interaction of Knowledge Clusters in Case …………………………144 Figure 7.1: Knowledge Integration and Social Capital interaction in InterOrganizational IS projects… ………………… …… … 198 Figure 8.1 Modified version of the OMA view of Social Capital ……………… 202 x [65] Hedlund, G and Nonaka, I., (1993), Models of Knowledge Management in the West and Japan, in P Lorange, et al., eds., Implementing Strategic Processes: Change, Learning and Co-operation, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 117-144 [66] Henderson, R M., and Clark, K B (1990), Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 9-30 [67] Herriott, R., E and Firestone, W A., (1983), Multisite Qualitative Policy Research: Optimizing description and generalizability, Educational Researcher, 12(2), 14-19 [68] Hirsch, P M and Levin, D Z., (1999), Umbrella Advocates versus Validity Police: A Life-Cycle Model, Organization Science, 10(2), 199–212 [69] Hirschheim, R., Klein, H.K., Newman, M.,(1991), Information Systems Development as Social Action: Theoretical Perspective and Practice, OMEGA International Journal of Management Science, 19(6), 587-608 [70] Hoecht, A and Trott, P.,(1999), Trust risk and control in the management of collaborative technology development, International Journal of Innovation Management 3(3), 257-270 [71] Holzner, B and Marx, J., (1979), The Knowledge Application: The Knowledge System in Society, Allyn-Bacon, Boston [72] Huang, J., Newell, S and Galliers, R., (2002), The Fostering of Inter- organizational Communities of Practice: An Explorative Case Study, at The Third European Conference on Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities, Athens, Greece, April 2002 218 [73] Huang J C., Newell S and Pan S.L., (2001), The Process of Global Knowledge Integration: A Case Study of a Multinational Investment Bank’s Y2K program, European Journal of Information Systems, 10(3), 161-174 [74] Huang, J.C and Newell, S., (2003), Knowledge Integration Processes and Dynamics Within the Context of Cross-Functional Projects, International Journal of Project Management, 21(3),167-176 [75] Huber, G P., (1991), Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures, Organization Science, 2, 88-115 [76] Huber, R.L., “How Continental Bank outsourced its "crown jewels." Harvard Business Review, 71,121-129, 1993 [77] Imai, K., Nonaka, I., Takeuchi, H.,(1985), Mangaing the New Product Development Process: How Japanaese Companies Learn and Unlearn, In K Clarkes, R.Hayes and C Lorenz(Eds) The Uneasy Alliance, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA [78] Inkpen, A.C., Learning and Knowledge Acquisition through International Strategic Alliances, Academy of Management Executive 12(4), 69-80, 1998 [79] Inkpen, A.C., and Dinur, A., (1998), Knowledge Management Processes and International Joint Ventures, Organization Science 9(4), 454-468 [80] Inkpen, A.C and Crossan, M.M., (1995), Believing is Seeing: Joint Ventures and Organization Learning, Journal of Management Studies, 32(5), 595-618 [81] Inkpen and Kou-Qing Li (1999), Joint Venture Formation: Planning and Knowledge-Gathering for Success, Organizational Dynamics, 27 (4), 33–47 [82] Inkpen, A.C and Tsang, E.W.K.,(2005), Social Capital, Networks and Knowledge Transfer, Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 146-165 219 [83] Jarillo, J C., (1988), On Strategic Networks, Strategic Management Journal 9(January-February), 31-42 [84] Jarvenpaa, S.L and Staples, D.D.(2000), The Use of Collaborative Electronic Media for Information Sharing: An Exploratory Study of Determinants, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 9(2-3), 129-154 [85] Kale, P., Singh, H and Perlmutter, H., (2000), Learning and protection of proprietary assets in Strategic Alliances: Building Relational Capital, Strategic Management Journal, 21(3), 217-237 [86] Kankanhalli, A., Tan, B.C.Y and Wei, K.K.,(2005), Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation, MIS Quarterly, 29(1), 113-144 [87] Kaplan, B and Maxwell, J.A., (1994), Qualitative Research Methods for Evaluating Computer Information Systems, In, Evaluating Health Care Information Systems: Methods and Applications, J.G Anderson, C.E., Aydin and S.J Jay (eds.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 45-68 [88] Katz, R., and Allen, T.J., (1988), Organizational Issues in the Introduction of New Technologies," in Ralph Katz (Ed.), Managing Professionals in Innovative Organizations, Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, 442456 [89] Katz, R and Tushman, M.L., (1980), External Communication and Project Performance: An Investigation into the Role of Gatekeepers, Management Science, 26(11), November 1071-1085 [90] Khandwalla, P N., (1977), The Design of Organizations, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc 326-354 220 [91] Khanna, T., Gulati, R., and Nohria, N., (1998), ‘The Dynamics of Learning Alliances: Competition, Cooperation, and Relative Scope, Strategic Management Journal, 19, 193-210 [92] Kim, D., (1993), The Link between Individual and Organizational Learning, Sloan Management Review, Fall, 1993, 37-50 [93] Koka, B R and Prescott, J.E (2002), Strategic Alliances as Social Capital: A Multidimensional View, Strategic Management Journal, 23(9), 795-816 [94] Krackhardt, D., (1992), The Strength of Strong Ties: The Importance of Philos in Organizations, In N Nohria and R Eccles (Eds.), Organizations and Networks: Structure, Form and Action, 216-239, Boston: Harvard Business School Press [95] Klein, H K and Myers, M D., (1999), A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 23(1), 67-94 [96] Knoke, D., (1999), Organizational Networks and Corporate Social Capital, In R., Th., A., J., Leenders and S.M Gabbay (Eds), Corporate Social Capital and Liability, Boston: Kluwer, 17-42 [97] Ko Dong-Gil, Kirsch J L., King R W.,(2005), Antecedents of Knowledge Transfer From Consultants to Clients in Enterprise System Implementations, MIS Quarterly, 29(1), 2005, 59-85 [98] Kogut, B., (1988), Joint Ventures: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives, Strategic Management Journal, 9, 319–332 [99] Kogut, B and Zander, U., (1992), Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology, Organization Science, 3, 383-397 221 [100] Kusunoki, K., Nonaka, I and Nagata, A., (1998), Organizational Capabilities in Product Development of Japanese Firms: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings, Organization Science, 9(6), November-December, 699-718 [101] Lacity, M.(2002), Global Information Technology Sourcing: More Than A Decade of Learning, IEEE Computer, 35, 26-33 [102] Lacity, M and Hirschheim, R., (1993b, Fall), The Information Systems Outsourcing Bandwagon Sloan Management Review, 35(1), 73-86 [103] Lane, P J and Lubatkin, M., (1998), Relative Absorptive Capacity and Interorganizational Learning, Strategic Management Journal, 19(5), 461-477 [104] Larsen, M A and Myers, M D., (1999), When Success Turns into Failure: A Package-Driven Business Process Re-engineering Project in the Financial Services Industry, The Journal of Strategic Information systems, 8(4), 395-417 [105] Larsson R., Bengtsson L., Henriksson K and Sparks J., (1998), The Organizational Learning Dilemma: Collective Knowledge Development in Strategic Alliances, Organization Science, 9(3), 285-304 [106] Leana, C R and Van Buren, H J., (1999), Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices, Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 538-555 [107] Levina, N., (2005), Collaborating on Multiparty Information Systems Development Projects: A Collective Reflection-in-Action View, Information Systems Research, 16(2), 109-130 [108] Leonard-Barton, D., (Summer 1992), Core Capabilities and Core Rigidities: A Paradox in New Product Development, Strategic Management Journal, 13, 111126 [109] Lesser, E.L., (2000), Knowledge and Social Capital, Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, MA 222 [110] Lesser, E and Prusak, L., (2000), Communities of Practice, Social Capital, and Organizational Knowledge, in Cortada, W.C and Woods, J.A (Eds), The Knowledge Management Yearbook 2000-2001, Butterworth-Heinemann, 251-259 [111] Liebeskind, J P., Amalya, L.O., Lynne, Z and Brewer, M., (1996), Social Networks, Learning and Flexibility: Sourcing Scientific Knowledge Among New Biotechnology Organizations, Organization Science, 7(4), 428-443 [112] Mason, J., (2002), Qualitative Researching, 2nd Edition, Sage [113] McEvily B, Zaheer A., (1999), Bridging Ties: A Source of Firm Heterogeneity in Competitive Capabilities, Strategic Management Journal, 20(12), 1133-1156 [114] McFarlan, F W and Nolan, R L., How to Manage an IT Outsourcing Alliance, Sloan Management Review, (Winter 1995) 9-23 [115] Merali, Y., Individual and Collective Congruence in the Knowledge Management Process, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 9, 213-234, 2000 [116] Merali, Y., (2001), Leveraging Capabilities: A Cognitive Congruence Framework, in Knowledge Management and Organizational Competence, Ed Sanchez, R., Oxford University Press, New York [117] Miles, M B and Huberman, A M., (1994), Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd ed., Sage Publications [118] Myers, M D.,(1997), Qualitative Research in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, 21(2), 241-242, MISQ Discovery, archival version, June 1997, www.misq.org/misqd961/isworld/ MISQ Discovery, updated version, last modified: February 13, 2003, www.qual.auckland.ac.nz [119] Nahapiet, J and Ghoshal, S., (1998), Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage, Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 242-266 223 [120] Nelson, R R and Winter, S G., (1982), An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA [121] Nonaka, I., (1994), A Dynamic theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, Organization Science, 5(1), 15-37 [122] Nonaka, I and Takeuchi, H., (1995), The Knowledge-Creating Company, Oxford University Press, New York [123] Okhyusen, G A and Eisenhardt K M.,(2002), Integrating Knowledge in Groups, Organization Science, 13(4), 2002, 370-386 [124] Orlikowski, S.J and Baroudi, J.J., (March 1991), Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions, Information Systems Research, 2(1), 3-14 [125] Orr J., (1990), Sharing Knowledge Celebrating Identity: War Stories and Community Memory in a Service Culture In Middleton D S and Edwards D (eds) Collective Remembering: Memory in Society Beverley Hills CA: Sage Publications [126] Pan, S L and Leidner, D., (2003), Bridging Communities of Practice with Information Technology in Pursuit of Global Knowledge Sharing, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 12(1), 71- 88 [127] Pan, S-L., Newell, S., Huang, J C and Cheung, A W K., (2001), Knowledge Integration as a Key Problem in an ERP Implementation, Twenty-Second International Conference on Information Systems, New Orleans, USA, 321- 328 [128] Pan, S L., Newell, S., Huang, J.C.M and Galliers, R (forthcoming), Overcoming Knowledge Management Challenges During ERP Implementation: The Need to Share and Integrate Different Types of Knowledge, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 224 [129] Parkhe A., (1993), Strategic Alliance Structuring: A Game Theoretic and Transaction Cost Examination of Interfirm Cooperation, Academy of Management Journal 36(4), 794–829 [130] Pawlowski, S.D and Robey, D., (2004), Bridging User Organizations: Knowledge Brokering and the Work of Information Technology Professionals, MIS Quarterly, 28(4), 645-672 [131] Pentland, B T., (1995), Information Systems and Organizational Learning: The Social Epistemology of Organizational Knowledge Systems, Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 5(1), 1-21 [132] Pisano, P.G., (1994), Knowledge Integration and the Locus of Learning: An Empirical Analysis of Process Development, Strategic Management Journal, 15(Special issue: Competitive Organizational Behavior), 85-100 [133] Polanyi M., (1966), The tacit dimension, Garden City, N.Y Doubleday [134] Portes, A., (1998), Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1-24 [135] Powell, W W., (1990), Neither Market nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization, Organizational Behaviour, 12, 295-336 [136] Putnam, R D., (1993), Making democracy Work: Civic traditions in modern Italy, Princeton: Princeton University press [137] Quinn, J B., (1992), Intelligent enterprise: A Knowledge and Service Based Paradigm for Industry, New York: The Free Press, A Division of Macmillan, Inc [138] Ravasi, D and Verona, G., (2001), Organizing the Process of Knowledge Integration: the Benefits of Structural Ambiguity, Scandinavian Journal of Management 17, 41-66 225 [139] Reagans, R., and McEvily, B., (2003), Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The effects of Cohesion and Range, Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 240-267 [140] Richardson, G., (1972), The Organization of Industry' Economic Journal 82, 883-896 [141] Robillard, P.N., (1999), Communications of the ACM, 42(1), 87 - 92 [142] Rousseau, D., Sitkin, S., Burt, R and Camerer, C., (1998), Not So Different After All: A Cross Discipline View of Trust, Academy of Management Review, 23 (3) 393 – 404 [143] Ruggles, R., (1998), The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice, California Management Review, 40(3), 80–99 [144] Rus, I., and Lindvall, M., (2002), Knowledge Management in Software Engineering IEEE Software, 19(3) 26-38 [145] Sandefur, R., and Laumann, E., (1998), A Paradigm for Social Capital," Rationality and Society , 10(4), 481-501 [146] Senge, P., (1990), The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization New York: Doubleday [147] Shenkar, O and Li J.T., (1999), Knowledge Search in International Cooperative Ventures, Organization Science, 10(2), 134-43 [148] Simatupang, T., Wright, A., Sridharan, R., (2002), The Knowledge of Coordination for Supply Chain Integration, Business Process Management Journal, 8(3), 289-308 [149] Simonin, B L., (1999), Ambiguity and the Process of Knowledge Transfer in Strategic Alliances, Strategic Management Journal, 20(7), 595-623 226 [150] Sobero, M and Roberts, B.E., (2001), The Trade-off Between Efficiency and Learning in Inter-organizational Relationships for Product development, Management Science, 47(4), 493-511 [151] Spender, J., (1996), Making Knowledge the Basis of a Dynamic theory of the Organization, Strategic Management Journal, 17(Winter Special Issue), 45-62 [152] Stake, R E., (1994), Case Studies, In, Denzin N K., and Lincoln, Y S (Editors), Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage Publications, 236-247 [153] Strauss, A and Corbin, J., (1990), Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, Sage, London, 1990 [154] Swan, J., (2001), Knowledge Management in Action: Integrating Knowledge across Communities, Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Jan 3-6, 2001, 2313 -2321 [155] Szulanski, G., (1996), Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice within the Firm, Strategic Management Journal(17), 1996, 27-43 [156] Tan, S S., Teo, H H., Tan, B C., and Wei, K K., (1998), Developing a Preliminary Framework for Knowledge Management in Organizations, in, Proceedings of the Fourth Americas Conference on Information Systems, E Hoadley and I Benbasat (eds.), Baltimore, MD, 629-631 [157] Tapscott, D and Caston, A., (1993), Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology, New York: McGraw-Hill [158] Teece, D., Pisano,G and Shuen, A., (1997), Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509-533 227 [159] Tenkasi, R V and Boland Jr., R J., (1996), Exploring Knowledge Diversity in Knowledge Intensive Organizations: A New Role for Information Systems, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(1), 79-91 [160] Tiwana, A., (2004), Beyond the Black-Box: Knowledge Overlaps in Software Outsourcing, IEEE Software, 21(5), 51-58 [161] Tsai, W and Ghoshal, S., (1998), Social Capital and Value Creation: The Role of Intrafirm Networks, Academy of Management Journal, 41(4), 464-476 [162] Tsoukas, H.,(1996), The Firm as a Distributed Knowledge System: A Constructionist Approach, Strategic Management Journal, 17 (Winter, Special Issue)1996, 11-25 [163] Turner, J.R.,(1993), The Handbook of Project-Based Management, McGraw Hill, Maidenhead [164] Uzzi, B., (1997), Social Structure and Competition in Inter-organization Networks- The paradox of embeddedness, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(1), 35-67 [165] Uzzi, B and Lancaster, R.,(2003), Legal Charges: Embeddedness and Price Formation in Corporate Law Markets, In D.H Nagao (Ed.), Proceedings of the Sixty-third Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (CD), ISSN 15438643 [166] Varadarajan , R.P and Cunningham,M.H.,(1995), Strategic Alliances: A Synthesis of Conceptual Foundations, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23(4), 282-296 [167] Van den Bosch, F.A.J., Volberda, H.W and Boer, M.,(1999), Coevolution of Firm Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Environment: Organizational Forms and Combinative Capabilities, Organization Science, 10(5), 551–568 228 [168] Von Krogh, G., (1998), Care in Knowledge Creation, California Management Review, 40(3), 133-153 [169] Von Krogh, G., Ichijo, K and Nonaka, I., (2000), Enabling Knowledge Creation New York, Oxford University Press [170] Walker, G., Kogut, B and Shan,W., (1997), Social capital, Structural Holes and the Formation of an Industry Network, Organization Science, 8(2), 109-126 [171] Wallach, E.J., (1983), Individuals and Organizations: The Cultural Match, Training and Development Journal, February, 37(2), 28-36 [172] Walsham, G., (1995a), The emergence of Interpretivism in IS research, Information Systems Research, 6(4), 376-394 [173] Walsham, G., (1995b), Interpretive case studies in IS research: Nature and Method, European Journal of Information systems, 4(2), 74-81 [174] Walsham, G., (2006), Doing Interpretive Research: Nature and Method, European Journal of Information systems, 15, 320-330 [175] Walz, D., Elan, J and Curtis, B., (1993), Inside a Software Design Team: Knowledge Acquisition, Sharing and Integration, Communications of the ACM, 36(10), 63-77 [176] Wenger, E., (1998), Communities of Practice Learning as a Social System, Systems Thinker, http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml, Accessed November 03, 2006 [177] Westney, D E., (1988), Domestic and Foreign Learning Curves in Managing International Cooperative Strategies In F Contractor & P Lorange, (Eds.), Cooperative Strategies in International Business, Toronto: Lexington Books, 339346 229 [178] Williamson, O E., (1985), The Economic Institutions of Capitalism, Free Press, New York, NY [179] Wittgenstein, L., (1974) On Certainty, Oxford: Blackwell [180] Yin, R.K., (2003), Case Study Research: Design and Methods Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA 3rd ed [181] Yli-Renko, H., Autio, E and Sapienza, H.J., (2001), Social Capital, Knowledge Acquisition and Competitive Advantage in Technology Based Young Firms, Strategic Management Journal, 22, 587-613 [182] Zahra, S A and George, G., (2002), Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension, Academy of Management Review 27(2), 185-203 [183] Zahra, S.A., Ireland, R.D., and Hitt, M.A., (2000), International Expansion by New Venture Firms: International Diversity, Mode of Market Entry, Technological Learning and Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 43, 925-950 APPENDIX B –SAMPLE QUESTIONS Tell us more about the background of the firms involved in the project a Their workflow and business processes What is the project workflow? Is information sharing one of the key concerns in this project? How would you rate the success of information sharing so far? Any interesting things about the Project Can you give us background on your company? 230 a Revenue, number of employees, how old is the company, nature of business etc b Interviewee’s Demographic information c What is your role in the company? d How many years have you been in this company? e What is your expertise and your role in the project? Project background: a What is the project about? b What is the contribution/role/involvement of your company in the project? c Who initiated this project and what was in it for your company? d How would you describe the interaction between all the organizations for purpose of the project, social and technical? e How did most of communication between team members take place? How much of ICT’s were used and were they helpful? What were some of the major issues in the project? a What according to you were the causes and how were they resolved? b Were the issues with a particular group/organization or general? Knowledge Integration a How easy/difficult was the process of knowledge sharing, knowledge exchange etc.? Why? b Did the fact that the team members belonged to different organizations affect/influence the project in any way? (Geographic dispersion, not much face-to-face interaction, difficult to arrange meetings etc.) 231 c Were the team members trained for any aspect during the project by any of the participating organization? (Technological/business) and did that help? d Were there any technologies that you used and did that make it easier? Social capital a Did members of the project have any prior relationships with each other, for instance through a prior project implementation or even socially? b Did the presence/absence of the social relationships facilitate/hinder the implementation in any way? c During project implementation did the project team engage in social activities (lunches etc.)? d What was the influence of such social activities on the project? e Was ‘trust’ or ‘knowing someone personally’ important at any stage? f How the relationships between team members after the project went live? Note: These questions were only used as a guide and most often the interviews were unstructured Questions resulted from the responses of the interviewees and this was important to make the interviewees comfortable 232 ... budget 2.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION CHALLENGES IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS Achieving effective knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects is not easy given it involves the integration. .. of knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects, this study proposes to: 1) Understand the process of knowledge integration in interorganizational IS projects and 2) Examine how social. .. process In identifying the influence of social capital on knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects the study finds how the different aspects of social capital influence knowledge integration: