Information Systems: Debates, Applications and Impacts

This book captures a range of important developments that have occurred in Information Systems over the last forty years, with a particular focus on India and the developing world. Over this time, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Information Systems (IS) have come to play a critical role in supporting, complementing and automating managerial decisions, shaping and transforming industries, and contributing to deep societal and economic change. This volume examines a range of topics for those interested in the adoption and use of these technologies across varied situations. It combines empirical studies on the application and impact of IS with commentaries, debates and insights on the transformative role that IT and the IT industry have played, and continue to play, within India as well as globally.

The book draws attention to issues and challenges that organizations grapple with in tech-enabled environments, and provides insights on the role of automation and computational techniques. It explores the global impact of the technology revolution on economic growth and development, electronic globalization, and the wider opportunities and challenges of a hi-tech world. The chapters cover various themes such as e-government in India, internet-based distribution systems, internet banking, and use of collaborative IT tools and functions to support virtual teams in the software industry and the business process outsourcing industry. Other chapters focus on methodological advances, such as systems thinking which finds applications in organizational decision-making, and the use of fuzzy logic.

This volume will interest professionals and scholars of information technology and information systems, computer studies, IT systems, economics, and business and management studies.

Priya Seetharaman is Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India. Her primary research areas include Information Technology (IT) governance; IS/IT strategy; healthcare IT; adoption, use, evolution and impact of IT on organisations and society. Her papers have appeared in several journals including the Journal of Management Information Systems, Information & Management, Computers in Human Behaviour, Online Information Review, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change as well as in Information Systems conference proceedings. At IIM Calcutta, she has been handling postgraduate and doctoral courses on IS planning, IT governance and business process management.

Jocelyn Cranefield is Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research focuses on knowledge management, online communities in change settings, the sharing economy, smart sustainable cities, and the ethical management of IT. She has published in journals including the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Online Information Review and Journal of Knowledge and Process Management apart from conference proceedings. She is co-editor of the book Social Knowledge Management in Action: Applications and Challenges (2017). She has led the development and delivery of a Master’s programme for IT managers, and teaches courses including IT and the new organisation, strategic information systems management, knowledge management and information policy.