Advanced Topics in
Information
Resources
Management
Volume 2
Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D. B. A.
Information Resources Management Association
Hershey • London • Melbourne • Singapore • Beijing
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• Knowledge and Information Technology Management: Human and Social Perspectives, Angappa Gunasekaran,
Omar Khalil and Syed Mahbubur Rahman/ ISBN: 1-59140-032-5; eISBN 1-59140-072-4, © 2003
• Building Knowledge Economies: Opportunities and Challenges, Liaquat Hossain and Virginia Gibson/ ISBN:
1-59140-059-7; eISBN 1-59140-073-2, © 2003
• Knowledge and Business Process Management, Vlatka Hlupic/ISBN: 1-59140-036-8; eISBN 1-59140-074-0, ©
2003
• IT-Based Management: Challenges and Solutions, Luiz Antonio Joia/ISBN: 1-59140-033-3; eISBN 1-59140-
075-9, © 2003
• Geographic Information Systems and Health Applications, Omar Khan/ ISBN: 1-59140-042-2; eISBN 1-59140-
076-7, © 2003
• The Economic and Social Impacts of E-Commerce, Sam Lubbe/ ISBN: 1-59140-043-0; eISBN 1-59140-077-5,
© 2003
• Computational Intelligence in Control, Masoud Mohammadian, Ruhul Amin Sarker and Xin Yao/ISBN: 1-59140-
037-6; eISBN 1-59140-079-1, © 2003
• Decision-Making Support Systems: Achievements and Challenges for the New Decade, M.C. Manuel Mora,
Guisseppi Forgionne and Jatinder N.D. Gupta/ISBN: 1-59140-045-7; eISBN 1-59140-080-5, © 2003
• Architectural Issues of Web-Enabled Electronic Business, Nansi Shi and V.K. Murthy/ ISBN: 1-59140-049-X;
eISBN 1-59140-081-3, © 2003
• Adaptive Evolutionary Information Systems, Nandish V. Patel/ISBN: 1-59140-034-1; eISBN 1-59140-082-1, ©
2003
• Managing Data Mining Technologies in Organizations: Techniques and Applications, Parag Pendharkar/
ISBN: 1-59140-057-0; eISBN 1-59140-083-X, © 2003
• Intelligent Agent Software Engineering, Valentina Plekhanova/ ISBN: 1-59140-046-5; eISBN 1-59140-084-8, ©
2003
• Advances in Software Maintenance Management: Technologies and Solutions, Macario Polo, Mario Piattini and
Francisco Ruiz/ ISBN: 1-59140-047-3; eISBN 1-59140-085-6, © 2003
• Multidimensional Databases: Problems and Solutions, Maurizio Rafanelli/ISBN: 1-59140-053-8; eISBN 1-
59140-086-4, © 2003
• Information Technology Enabled Global Customer Service, Tapio Reponen/ISBN: 1-59140-048-1; eISBN 1-
59140-087-2, © 2003

Preface vii
Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, Information Resources Management
Association
Chapter I. Aligning IS Research and Practice: A Research Agenda for
Virtual Work 1
France Bélanger, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, USA
Mary Beth Watson-Manheim, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Dianne H. Jordan, Science Applications International, Inc., USA
Chapter II. The Societal Impact of the World Wide Web–Key
Challenges for the 21st Century 32
Janice M. Burn, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Karen D. Loch, Georgia State University, USA
Chapter III. Internet Privacy: Interpreting Key Issues 52
Gurpreet S. Dhillon, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Trevor T. Moores, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Chapter IV. Knowledge Management Enablers within an
IT Department 62
Hope Koch, Texas A&M University, USA
David Paradice, Florida State University, USA
Yi Guo, Texas A&M University, USA
Bongsug Chae, Kansas State University, USA
Chapter V. E-mail’s Value: Internal versus External Usage 91
Denise J. McManus, Wake Forest University, USA
Chetan S. Sankar, Auburn University, USA
Houston H. Carr, Auburn University, USA
F. Nelson Ford, Auburn University, USA
Chapter VI. The Value of Managerial Flexibility in Strategic IT
Investment: Identify the Real Options of Resource Allocation 111
Xiaotong Li, University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA

User-Outcomes in a Multimedia Environment: An Empirical
Investigation 258
William D. Haseman, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Vichuda Nui Polatoglu, Anadolu University, Turkey
K. Ramamurthy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Chapter XIV. On the Role of Human Mortality in Information System
Security: From the Problems of Descriptivism to Non-Descriptive
Foundations 301
Mikko T. Siponen, University of Oulu, Finland
Chapter XV. Chaos Theory as a Framework for Studying Information
Systems 320
Gurpreet S. Dhillon, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
John Ward, Cranfield School of Management, UK
Chapter XVI. Organizational Mission Statements: A Postmodernist
Perspective on the Management of an IS/IT Function 338
John Pillay, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Ray Hackney, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
About the Authors 355
Index 368
Preface
vii
Information management has many facets, and the emerging world of elec-
tronic business and virtual communities makes the tasks associated with effective
information management even more complex. From knowledge management to
virtual teams and from IT investments to organizational mission statements, busi-
ness executives, IT practitioners, researchers, teachers and students need to have
access to the most current information surrounding the research and practice of
information resources management. The chapters offer the most current theory
and practice in IT research and management. These chapters, all written by ex-
perts in their respective fields offer concrete suggestions for managers and indi-

a case study of knowledge management efforts within an information technology
environment. The case study is based on technical and human-centric approaches
combined with Holsapple and Joshi’s Kentucky Initiative. Based upon the case
study presented, the authors propose a model of execution of knowledge manipu-
lation activities and a model outlining factors enabling effective knowledge man-
agement.
Chapter V, entitled “E-mail’s Value: Internal versus External Usage,” by
Denise J. McManus, Chetan S. Sankar, Houston H. Carr and F. Nelson Ford,
provides a new perspective on the competitive advantage of electronic mail within
organizations. This chapter investigates the relationship between the strategic uses
and competitive benefits of electronic mail in modern organizations. The results
suggest that e-mail usage could augment the competitive posture of the firm.
Chapter VI, entitled “The Value of Managerial Flexibility in Strategic IT In-
vestment: Identify the Real Options of Resource Allocation,” by Xiaotong Li and
John D. Johnson, discusses the real options theory and its application to IT invest-
ment evaluation. The authors provide a framework that systematically justifies
using real options theory in Strategic IT investment evaluation. The authors dis-
cuss an electronic brokerage’s investment decision in wireless technology as a
real-world application of the proposed framework.
Chapter VII, entitled “Trust and Technology in Virtual Teams,” by Steven A.
Morris, Thomas E. Marshall and R. Kelly Rainer, Jr., investigates the impacts that
reliance on information technology and trust have on job satisfaction of virtual
team members. The study presented in the chapter reveals that both user satisfac-
tion and trust are positively related to job satisfaction in virtual teams, while system
use was not found to play a significant role.
Chapter VIII, entitled “An Architecture for Active and Passive Knowledge
Management Systems,” by Stuart D. Galup, Ronald Dattero and Richard C. Hicks,
discusses the importance of utilizing a knowledge management system which al-
lows for knowledge management activities that utilize both active and passive
knowledge. This chapter develops and justifies a proposed client/server architec-

Outcomes in a Multimedia Environment: An Empirical Investigation,” by William
D. Haseman, Vichuda Nui Polatoglu and K. Ramamurthy, investigates the influ-
ence of interactivity on the learning outcomes of users in a multimedia systems
environment. The results of the study discussed indicate that while interactivity
does not necessarily enable a gain in user learning, it does positively influence
participants’ attitudes. The study further demonstrates that there are no moderat-
ing effects of learning styles, as measured by Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory
scale, on the relationship between interactivity and user outcomes.
Chapter XIV, entitled “On the Role of Human Morality in Information Sys-
tem Security: From the Problems of Descriptivism to Non-Descriptive Founda-
tions,” by Mikko T. Siponen, proposes that the use of ethical theories and human
morality is useful for security, and further argues that descriptivism, including cul-
tural relativism, leads to several problems and contradictions, and causes detri-
x
mental effects to well-being and security. The authors propose an alternative ap-
proach to using ethics that is based upon non-descriptive theories.
Chapter XV, entitled “Chaos Theory as a Framework for Studying Informa-
tion Systems,” by Gurpreet S. Dhillon and John Ward, introduces Chaos Theory
as a means of studying information systems. The chapter argues that new tech-
niques, derived from Chaos Theory and used for discovering patterns in complex
quantitative and qualitative evidence, offers a more sustentative approach to un-
derstand the nature of information systems.
Chapter XVI, entitled “Organizational Mission Statements: A Postmodernist
Perspective on the Management of an IS/IT Function,” by John Pillay and Ray
Hackney, examines postmodernism in the context of organizational mission state-
ments and forms a critique of modernist approaches and proposes alternative
views about philosophy, organizational management theory and IS/IT manage-
ment theory. The authors conclude that the modernist/postmodernist dialectic is a
productive discussion, which positively contributes to IT research in terms of ana-
lytical techniques and interpretive strategies.

ABSTRACT
Recent advances in information technologies have led organizations to
diversify their organizational structures. One of the most prominent trends in
this diversification is to conduct work in distributed or virtual environments.
Distributed work alternatives are numerous, but the common characteristic
that defines these alternatives is the physical separation of employees from
each other and/or their organization’s workplace. Several corporations have
reported their efforts, successes and failures at implementing some form of
distributed work. Practitioners face a number of issues when considering
2 Bélanger, Watson-Manheim & Jordan
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virtual work alternatives. However, research does not seem to successfully
help in understanding and solving some of these key issues. This chapter
attempts to develop a new and broader research agenda that takes into
account emerging issues and concerns of practitioners, existing published
work and interdisciplinary perspectives on the topic. In doing so, emerging
trends in virtual work and supporting technologies are explored.
INTRODUCTION
Virtual or distributed work environments are increasingly employed by
organizations. These environments include geographically distributed work teams,
global project teams, inter-organizational teams and non-traditional work environ-
ments such as virtual organizations, telecommuting (telework), hoteling and satellite
work centers. While there is increased complexity and potential for problems,
virtual work strategies allow organizations a great deal of flexibility to compete in
a rapidly changing business environment. Existing research provides insights into
distributed work environments, but does it deal with the major concerns and issues
faced by managers? What problems need to be addressed before organizations can
take better advantage of today’s technologies in distributing their workforce? It
seems that research has not been successful at understanding and solving some of

& Collins, 1998; McCloskey & Igbaria, 1998; Pinsonneault & Boisvert, 2001).
While there are other distributed work arrangements such as hoteling, neighbor-
hood work centers and flextime, most of the literature has focused on telecommuting
(telework) and virtual teams/organizations. There is overlap between these terms,
and this is part of the difficulty with conducting research in the area. We use the term
“virtual work” to represent work environments where individuals spend some time
working in non-face-to-face (FTF) mode, using information and communication
technologies to perform work activities.
In order to identify relevant academic research on telework and virtual work,
we employed two different methods. First, we searched a number of sources for
articles. We performed searches on ABI/Inform using the keywords virtual work,
distributed work, telework and telecommuting. We concentrated on the years
1998 to 2001 since research prior to 1998 has been summarized in several recent
literature reviews (discussed in a later section). We focused on mainstream IS
journals targeted to the MIS community.
2
In addition, we investigated the Academy
of Management journals and Organization Science. Finally, we included special
issues of several journals and books published between 1998 and 2001.
Second, we used the “snowball” technique where we mined citations in articles
for further references. We did not include the large number of papers presented at
conferences.
Other studies relevant to teleworking and virtual work can be found in the
transportation, organizational behavior, ethics, law, sociology and communication
literatures. We limited our sample to employees of organizations who perform their
work at home, or in other remote work settings during at least some normal business
hours. Therefore, studies of home-workers and entrepreneurs are not included, nor
4 Bélanger, Watson-Manheim & Jordan
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7 empirical hypothesis-
driven & 25 empirical
not hypothesis-driven
studies
Presents literature before
1998 and discusses need for proper definitions.
Proposes a framework where
organizational, individual, work and technology chara
cteristics must fit together in affecting
telecommuting outcomes (at societal, organizationa
l and individual levels).
Bélanger
1999
Empirical Survey &
interviews
76 telecommuters &
non-telecommuters
Discusses reasons individuals opt not to telecommut
e. Choice is significantly impacted by job type and
age of individuals. Telecommuters report highe
r perceived productivity and personal control than non-
telecommuters.
Bélanger
1999b
Empirical Survey 75 co-worke
rs including
some telecommuters
Using network analysis, studied whether non-telec
ommuters form their own cliques, with
telecommuters being left out of office networ

2000
Conceptual Informal
review of
literature
Identifies and examines diffe
rent forms of virtual workplace. Propose management gui
delines. Most
important to shift from emphasis on time to e
mphasis on results, and require better supervisory skills
from managers. Number of managers needed
should not decrease.

Table 1: Review of Recent Literature – Summary
Aligning IS Research and Practice 5
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
Table 1: Review of Recent Literature – Summary (continued)
Dimitrova
& Salaff
1998
Empirical Survey 94 teleworkers in
1 firm Employees with more complex, interdepende
nt networks and who deal in “softer,” more p
olitical
information rely most on phone communication; ot
hers rely most on e-mail.
Dixon &
Webster
1998
Empirical Survey 119 telecommute

managers, 22 co-
workers,
36 in control group
Teleworkers had significant difference in work-fami
ly conflict over time with lower levels of
interference of family to work and work to family, and f
ewer problems managing family time than
before telework pilot. Control, co-worker and mana
ger groups had no significant differences.
Telework can help balance work and family demands.
Goodman
& Darr
1998
Empirical
60 sites of Fortune 100
company
Investigated organizational learning in distributed e
nvironment. Found that technology was not well-
suited for complex problems. Alternatives suc
h as meetings were best to filter best practices.
Grabowski
& Roberts
1998
Conceptual Literature
review
Investigated virtual organizat
ion risk propensity. Identified 4 factors that m
itigate risk propensity:
organizational structuring and design, communi
cation, culture and trust.

cal compatibility and values comp
atibility on telecommuting adop
tion,
diffusion and success. Findings indicate that ability
to secure telecommuting and developmental values
affect adoption and diffusion of telecommuting, gr
oup values affect diffusion and success of
telecommuting, and practical compatibility and rat
ional values affect telecommuting success.
Harrington
& Ruppel
1999
Empirical Survey 111 IS mana
gers Measured effects of trust, corporate cultur
e (4 levels), practical compatibility and relative
advantage on
telecommuting adoption, diffusion and success. Tr
ust affects adoption and diffusion, relative
advantage affects all 3 outcomes and various levels
of corporate culture affect the 3 outcomes.
Hightower
et al. 1998
Empirical 3 experiments Students in 3-
person
groups; number of
groups unknown
Discusses the effects of Computer Mediated C
ommunication Systems (CMCS) on information
exchange in groups. Findings indicate that ad hoc vi
rtual groups exchange information less effectively

it exist, how is it developed, what communication
behaviors facilitate
development of trust? Found that if trust is developed, it
is early in the life of the
team—“swift trust.”
Jarvenpaa
et al. 1998
Empirical Content analysis
of interactions
over 8 weeks
75 teams comprised of
4 -6 students residing in
different countries
Examined antecedents of team trust development. Ea
rly phase of team development, trust influenced
strongest by perception of members’ integrity and least
by perception of benevolence. Influence of
perception of ability of members on trust decrease
d over time.
Johnson
2001
Empirical Case
1 organization (St. Paul
Companies)
Case looks at St. Paul Companies’ use of the virtual
office. Overall use of telecommuting is positive,
and there is a recognition of the need for more
training.
Kavan &
Saunders

surveys &
interviews
Study 1: 12 teams (84
students); Study 2: 7
teams (30 students)
Collaboration, conflicts, communication and social
ization in virtual teams (using electronic mail).
Kraut et al.
1999
Empirical Telephone
survey
Senior managers in 250
firms
Coordination in supply chain. What are mecha
nisms for coordination? Personal relationships
complement electronic coordination mechanisms/ne
tworks. Firms more likely to use e-mail than
computer networks for exchanging documents;
use of networks associated with poor outcomes in
working with suppliers.
Lind 1999 Empirical Survey
29 virtual groups of 4 &
1 virtual group of 5
students
Looked at perceptions of face-to-face vs. virtual g
roups based on gender. In virtual groups, women
perceived that the groups stuck together more th
an the men, and were more satisfied and found group

conflicts to be more readily resolved than men

gathering
methods
3 globally distributed
teams in 1 organization;
2 of 3 teams had
members from outside
organization—a
strategic partner
Influence of structural characteristics of teams (t
ask, group and technology) as antecedents of the
influence of team interactions (decision proce
sses, message complexity and form) on performance

outcomes. Effective interaction is composed of mu
ltiple incidents, which fit different aspects of team’s

structural characteristics. Also, face-to-face commu
nication was critical, often essential, to effective
performance; and communication regularity influenc
ed effectiveness.
McCloskey
& Igbaria
1998
Conceptual
Literature
review
32 studies
Review of telecommuting literature revealed on
ly 32 empirical studies. Studies include pilot studie
s, usage

eault &
Boisvert
2001
Conceptual Literature
review

Starts by reviewing definitions. Identifies all positive
and negative impacts of telecommuting for
organizations and individuals.
Reinsch
1999
Empirical Quasi-
experiment
104 telecommuters Communication be
haviors and relationship duration affect participation in
a telecommuting program.
Managerial reaction to criticism and manageri
al loyalty significantly affected forecasts of the worker’
s
and manager’s working together successfully.
Ruppel &
Howard
1998a &
1998b
Empirical Survey 252 IS manage
rs Top management support, champions, ad
equate security measures and manager training were
positively related to telework adoption ad diffus
ion.
Scott &

priorities, employees’ ability to set objectives
that align with their managers’ and the length of time
employees have worked for their managers.
Staples et
al. 1999
Empirical Questionnaire
376 remotely managed
employees in 18 diverse
organizations
Investigated management of remote employees usi
ng self-efficacy theory. Found that training, IT
support and work experience are important fo
r individuals working remotely.
Aligning IS Research and Practice 9
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Table 1: Review of Recent Literature – Summary (continued)
Turner et
al. 1998
Empirical Case
1 case
Evaluation of features for a collaborative not
ebook in virtual workpl
aces. Takes i
nto account patterns
of work and information flow. Adoption of notebook w
as slow. Individuals perceive their patterns of
work differently than what they really are.
Fritz et al.
1998

After we collected the relevant papers
based on the above criteria, we summarized the
key elements found in each paper. Table 1
presents this summary. Using the information in
the table, we identified the key issues discussed
in the literature, and organized the papers and
our discussion around these issues.
Findings from Literature Review
The review of recent literature (1998 to
2001) revealed 41 empirical and/or theoreti-
cally grounded studies that fit the above criteria.
Six were literature reviews and 35 were empiri-
cal studies. Overall, these 41 articles address
the following questions:
• Who are the virtual workers?
• How is communication influenced by vir-
tual work?
• What technologies are used and how do
they influence virtual work outcomes?
• What is the nature of the work-family
conflict in virtual work?
• What are the outcomes of virtual work
environments?
• What happens in virtual group work?
• What are key issues in the management of
remote workers?
Who are the Virtual Workers?
There are two types of studies that discuss
who virtual workers are. The first type is de-
scriptive, usually presenting demographics and

of the office network. This result is similar to that of another study where teleworkers
did not differ on their frequency of communication with managers, subordinates, co-
workers and clients (Duxbury & Neufeld, 1999). Fritz et al. (1998) also found that
the support for, and use of, information technology positively impacts satisfaction
with communication for both telecommuters and non-telecommuters. However,
task predictability influenced satisfaction only for telecommuters.
The second type of communication studies focused on choice of communica-
tion mode. One study found that high virtual status employees (those out of the office
most often) found e-mail more useful in developing organizational identification than
low virtual status employees who relied more on the telephone for communication
(Wiesenfeld et al., 1999). Another study looking at knowledge sharing between
geographically distributed sites of a Fortune 100 company revealed that technology
is not well-suited to solve complex problems, and face-to-face communication is
needed to disseminate best practices (Goodman & Darr, 1998). Personal relation-
ships complement electronic coordination mechanisms in the performance of
Aligning IS Research and Practice 11
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
production steps outside a firm’s boundaries in a supply chain (Kraut et al., 1999).
E-mail is the most-used communication mode by teleworkers. However, employ-
ees with complex, interdependent networks, who deal with more political informa-
tion, tend to rely more on the telephone for communicating (Dimitrova & Salaff,
1998). The use of electronic mail in telework and virtual teams was studied
extensively in pre-1998 literature.
What Technologies are Used and How do they Influence Virtual Work
Outcomes?
Prior to 1998, few studies investigated the use of technologies in virtual work
(an exception is Gupta et al., 1995). Recent studies of technologies for communi-
cation in virtual work include computer-mediated communication systems
(Hightower et al., 1998) and a collaborative notebook for virtual workplaces

less time-based work-family conflict, and received less career support than non-
telecommuters. Another study of the effects of the work environment on turnover
intentions, role stressors, job satisfaction and organizational commitment revealed
that telecommuters had less role conflict, exhibited higher job satisfaction and were
more committed to the organization (Igbaria & Guimaraes, 1999).
What Happens in Virtual Group Work?
Studies of virtual groups include those investigating the existence and devel-
opment of trust in student teams who never met in a face-to-face setting (Jarvenpaa
& Leidner, 1999; Jarvenpaa et al., 1998), the development processes for student
teams (Knoll & Jarvenpaa, 1998) and perceptions of face-to-face vs. virtual
groups of students based on gender (Lind, 1999). As these were student teams, it
is unclear whether their findings are generalizable to the workplace, but they provide
insight for managers implementing temporary teams of geographically dispersed,
culturally diverse individuals. Maznevski and Chudoba (2000) intensively studied
three teams whose members were globally distributed, with most members based
in one firm, but some based in partner companies. Findings indicate face-to-face
meetings were sometimes essential to effective performance, and these meetings
and other communication modes were most effective when held on a regular basis.
What are Key Issues in the Management of Remote Workers?
Staples et al. (1999) investigated the management of remote employees in one
organization. They found training, work experience and IT support were important
factors influencing success. More recently, Staples (2001) used focus groups in
several organizations with follow-up surveys to identify key issues in the manage-
ment of remote workers. Results suggested communication, performance manage-
ment, coaching, information technology and isolation are the main management
issues.
Literature Prior to 1998
At least six pre-1998 literature reviews were published between 1998 and
2001 (Bélanger & Collins, 1998; Boudreau et al., 1998; Cascio, 2000; Grabowski
& Roberts, 1998; McCloskey & Igbaria, 1998; Pinsonneault & Boisvert, 2001).

communication mode choice have been the most popular research areas in virtual
work. Most of the studies on virtual work have been conducted using field studies
in different virtual environments. The samples have often been limited, e.g., one
organization, which can limit the generalizability of the findings, although sample
sizes seem to be increasing in recent years. Given the complexity of organizations,
the current research seems to be narrowly focused.
CASE NARRATIVES
In order to investigate whether a gap exists between research and practice, we
present the following case narratives describing distributed work in two organiza-
tions. These distributed work situations represent two different, but very common,
14 Bélanger, Watson-Manheim & Jordan
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work situations found in companies today. Data was gathered for the cases from
interviews with a senior manager and a front-line employee from work groups in
each of the two companies. The information was recorded and then reviewed by
a second researcher. Discussions led to the identification of several recurring
themes, used to describe the cases. In addition, several important issues and
questions raised by practitioners were logged, and are presented in our discussion
section. The case descriptions were developed and analyzed collaboratively by the
academicians and practitioners.
Case 1. Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a global
management and technology consulting firm for industry and government. The firm
has two major business units—the Worldwide Technology Business and the
Worldwide Commercial Business—offering services in strategy, systems, opera-
tions and technology. The company has more than 8,000 full-time employees, with
more than 4,000 professionals specializing in various Information Technology (IT)
disciplines.
Distributed Teams