Moving IS Project Control Research into the Digital Era: The “Why” of Control and the Concept of Control Purpose

Abstract

The control of information systems (IS) projects is central to creating and capturing value from digitalization. However, the current understanding of IS project control is too restrictive and not well attuned to the digital era, in which collaborative value creation in open-ended digital innovation and transformation efforts is critical to firm competitiveness, ecosystem evolution, and societal advancement. Reviewing earlier research, we find that the dominant view of IS project control emphasizes value capture/appropriation and virtually ignores value creation. To address this shortcoming, we introduce the concept of control purpose (why) and advocate for broadening control activities to encompass the two control purposes of value appropriation and value creation. This implies that practitioners need to strategically decide on and actively manage the balance between different purposes of control activities. By doing so, they will be better equipped to achieving success in digital innovation and transformation initiatives.

Shifting Conceptualization of Control in Agile Transformations

“…We used the stewardship theory [ 4 ] to shed light on how a cross-functional unit approach control. Our results show that, regarding control configuration, enactment and purpose (Fig.…”

“…Our data analysis was partly deductive as we asked questions regarding stewardship theory in our questionnaire, but also inductive by analyzing our notes and pictures of the whiteboards for themes emerging in the retrospectives. We operationalized the control questions and digital-era characteristics from [ 4 ], as shown in Table 1 . The statements were given in Norwegian and rated on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).…”

“…Recent theoretical work suggests that we need new conceptualizations of control for the digital era. Wiener et al [ 4 ] argue that the digital era, with increasingly advanced and pervasive technologies, changes how we develop software. Changes include: new work practices with blurring of roles, a move from delivering commodities to continuous innovation, a move from hierarchical control structures to leveraging dynamic networks, and a changing workforce with increased specialization.…”

“…Wiener et al [ 4 ] outline key control questions and digital-era characteristics based on stewardship theory (see the themes of these two aspects in Table 1 below). First, key control questions are concerned with 1) control modes, whether these are formal or informal, 2) control style, and whether this is authoritative or enabling, and 3) whether there is a value appropriation or value-creation purpose to control.…”

“…To analyze the results, we draw on new perspectives of control for the digital era, based on stewardship theory. Stewardship argues that our conception of software development control needs to be reinvented in an era in which collaborative value creation is increasingly prevalent [ 4 ]. Our analysis indicates how agile transformations allow rethinking control and implementing new control perspectives more suitable for the digital era.…”