Champions of IS Innovations

Abstract

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication in the Communications of the Association for Information Systems. We are providing this early version of the manuscript to allow for expedited dissemination to interested readers. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered, which could affect the content. All legal disclaimers that apply to the Communications of the Association for Information Systems pertain.

Privacy Champions in Software Teams: Understanding Their Motivations, Strategies, and Challenges

“…Security Champions. One way to support company innovations in general, and privacy innovations specifcally, is to have a "champion" who advocates for these innovations and is willing to promote it actively [56]. "Where radical innovation is concerned, the emergence of a champion is required .…”

“…Prior research identifed innovation and Security Champions using such methods as screening surveys [56], and nomination by peers [36], executives [41], and self-nomination [33,34]. We believe that the role of successful Privacy Champions need to be recognised by their community, not only by themselves.…”

“…Such enthusiasts who have a special interest, and often expertise, in a subject are called "Innovation Champions" (or "advocates"). They encourage others and aid with overcoming barriers that a new idea could face [56]. This approach has been explored in software teams with Security Champions [33,68,72].…”

Dangerous Champions of IT Innovation

“…As is pointed out in a recent literature review [20] and in Section 2 (below), much prior champion researchincluding a stream of management studies that addressed champions of new product innovation and a stream of IS studies of IT innovation which focused on effective champions. Some prior studies cautioned that a champion could be ineffective or possibly over-zealous.…”

“…Yet, few studies investigated "champions' negative impacts [or] … champions … driving IS innovations in the wrong direction" [20]. To address this and other calls for further study of ineffective, dysfunctional or dangerous champions, we start with the premise (per [20]) that dangerous champions exhibit behaviors similar to effective champions: they articulate a persuasive case for the risky new technology and persuade influential decision makers to move forward with one or more projects. Our study addresses two research questions:  RQ1: What behavior and capabilities distinguish dangerous IT innovation champions, compared with effective IT innovation champions?…”