Review: A Review of Culture in Information Systems Research: Toward a Theory of Information Technology Culture Conflict

Abstract

An understanding of culture is important to the study of information technologies in that culture at various levels, including national, organizational, and group, can influence the successful implementation and use of information technology. Culture also plays a role in managerial processes that may directly, or indirectly, influence IT. Culture is a challenging variable to research, in part because of the multiple divergent definitions and measures of culture. Notwithstanding, a wide body of literature has emerged that sheds light on the relationship of IT and culture. This paper sets out to provide a review of this literature in order to lend 1 Jane Webster was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Michelle L. Kaarst-Brown, Elena Karahanna, and Felix B. Tan, served as reviewers. insights into our understanding of the linkages between IT and culture. We begin by conceptualizing culture and laying the groundwork for a values-based approach to the examination of IT and culture. Using this approach, we then provide a comprehensive review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature that conceptually links these two traditionally separate streams of research. From our analysis, we develop six themes of IT-culture research emphasizing culture's impact on IT, IT's impact on culture, and IT culture. Building upon these themes, we then develop a theory of IT, values, and conflict. Based upon the theory, we develop propositions concerning three types of cultural conflict and the results of these conflicts. Ultimately, the theory suggests that the reconciliation of these conflicts results in a reorientation of values. We conclude with the particular research challenges posed in this line of inquiry.

Noise or Quality? Cross-Nested Hierarchical Effects of Culture on Online Ratings

“…National culture refers to ideological and values' differences at the nation state level. Information systems research has most commonly used Hofstede's dimensions of national culture (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, long-term orientation, and indulgence) to measure national culture (Kappos & Rivard, 2008;Leidner & Kayworth, 2006).…”

“…High power distance cultures such as Russia, India, and China have a high degree of respect for authority and accept status differences as a cultural norm, whereas low power distance cultures such as Australia, Israel, and Canada have a lower degree of respect for authority and do not accept status differences as a cultural norm (Hofstede, 1980;Triandis, 2000). Previous literature has primarily investigated the concept of power distance in offline environments where there is a face-to-face interaction in order to demonstrate status inequalities and the associated respect (or lack thereof) for authority among the individuals involved in the interaction (Kappos & Rivard, 2008;Leidner & Kayworth, 2006). However, researchers have also demonstrated that the idea of power distance is an important factor (albeit less pronounced) in determining online patterns of social interactions where individuals virtually interact in manners consistent with their power distant cultures (Ardichvili et al, 2006;Jackson & Wang, 2013;Zhang, 2013).…”

IT controls in the public cloud: Success factors for allocation of roles and responsibilities

“…While this approach is important, it restricts the ability to generalise in a statistical sense. Similarly, because national culture has been found to have a substantial effect in IS studies (Leidner & Kayworth, 2006), generalising these results to other cultures is encouraged through multiple methods. It might, for example, be that organisations operating in Europe have very different views on roles and responsibilities allocation factors compared to organisations operating in the UAE.…”

Examining the Role of the Culture of Local Government on Adoption and Use of E-Government Services

“…Researchers have identified many cultural value dimensions or traits; for example Leidner and Kayworth's [44] review of the literature on culture found 46 value dimensions of culture at national, organizational and sub-unit level. Out of those 46 cultural dimensions, four key traits, identified at the level of organizational culture, are indicated in major e-government research [10,34,[45][46][47][48] and are therefore adopted as relevant to our study.…”