UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS MAMATA BHANDAR (B.Tech., JNTU, India; M.Comp, NUS, Singapore) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been made possible with the support and encouragement of many people and I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to each one of them First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Prof Bernard C.Y Tan and Dr Shan-Ling Pan for their guidance on this thesis Both of their support and understanding has been instrumental for this thesis and I am really grateful to them for that Dr Bernard has been a great source of support in providing resources and direction for the study There are three very significant lessons that I have learnt from him First, he always encouraged me to boldly present my work in every forum and created opportunities for me to so which have made me much more confident about my work When I was uncertain about submitting my thesis proposal he had said: “PhD is a learning process; you may not always be right, but you have learnt something” Ever since, I am less apprehensive about the outcome and focus more on the process and learning Second, he taught me the importance of simplicity and clarity From the complex writing I would drown myself into; he rescued me by asking me to simplify using simple, clear and short sentences Only I would know how much easier writing then became Last, but not the least, I owe my presentation skills to him When I sent him a deck of 37 slides for my PhD qualifier, he said they were too many and that he only used 10 slides for a 45 minute talk in ICIS That seemed impossible for me, yet became my goal for any presentation since Today, I can say that I am close to that goal Indeed, his lessons have made me a much better writer, teacher, presenter and a much more confident researcher ii Dr Pan has been a true friend, philosopher and guide He has always been there, be it for discussions on research, my teaching or any aspect of my life in NUS When I decided to embark on this journey it was mainly due to the comfort I had in working with him He has always made the impossible seem possible, reinforced my strengths and never tired in giving pep talks every time I needed them He has also forced me to think harder and any discussion with him was a refreshing intellectual exercise I used to walk into his office with a vague idea and he always helped me make sense of the ideas, put the ideas together and weave a story around it I must say, I have yet to learn this skill from him It was also amazing how he could keep track of all of his students’ cases, theories and working papers His confidence in me and in my work gave me all the encouragement I needed to keep going He has literally hand held me during the initial stages on this journey and painstakingly taught me the basics of doing case study research He has indeed been an invaluable source of inspiration Other faculty members at the National University of Singapore and at external universities have also contributed to this thesis Dr Atreyi Kankanhalli, Dr Danny Poo, Dr Bock-Gee Woo, Dr Rajiv Sabherwal, Dr Michael Myers, Dr Anandhi Bharadwaj, Dr Lynne Markus and Dr Carol Saunders provided valuable feedback and assessment at the various IS workshops, conferences and seminars in which I have presented and participated Several anonymous editors and reviewers of journals and conferences have also offered comments that have made this a better piece of work iii Several other students in and outside the department have been good friends and their understanding, time and support have been invaluable I thank Sitoh LiLing for her assistance during the very initial stages of this study Calvin Chan, has been a very good companion and confidant during this long journey The philosophies on life we shared and the infrequent yet wonderful tennis sessions were refreshing Every time I fret over rejections and slack in work, he made me see the brighter things in my life and cheered me up I would also like to thank my other colleagues and friends in the department for giving comments to better my work and being excellent companions in this journey Many friends outside of NUS have been a great source of strength Not only did they help me unwind but they also made every simple achievement of mine seem so great and urged me to keep going These friends and all my colleagues in NUS always reinforced my strength in juggling my thesis, teaching and my roles as a mother and wife Their kind words made me feel really special and less critical of me when I was late for deadlines due to family commitments I thank my husband, Shareen, for his support and more importantly for believing in me His constant reassurance that I could it kept me going He has been around more and has been more of a mother to my son than me My four year old son, Keyur has been a darling and has never been demanding He has grown up seeing me with my laptop all the time and has never expected me to play with him or entertain him He made it so much easier for me to complete this thesis apart from serving as an excellent stress reliever He made life seem so much more complete and always gave me a reason to smile I really hope to make it up to him and my husband for all their love and understanding, I thank my parents, parents-in-law and other family members whose help and encouragement kept me going iv CONTENTS TITLE I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II CONTENTS V SUMMARY VII LIST OF TABLES IX LIST OF FIGURES X 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS AND IS PROJECTS 1.2 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 1.3 SOCIAL CAPITAL AND KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 2.2 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION 13 2.3 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS .15 2.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION CHALLENGES IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 18 2.5 SOCIAL CAPITAL 20 2.6 SOCIAL CAPITAL – THE OMA VIEW 23 2.6.1 Opportunity Source of Social Capital 24 2.6.2 Motivation Source of Social Capital 26 2.6.3 The Ability Source of Social Capital .28 2.6.4 Social Capital definition for this study 29 2.7 LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARY 30 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 INTERPRETIVE CASE STUDY APPROACH 32 3.2 MULTIPLE CASE STUDY RESEARCH .36 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 38 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 42 4.0 CASE 1: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 45 4.1 BACKGROUND 45 4.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .48 4.3 THE PROJECT 52 4.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION 54 4.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .59 4.6 OMA ANALYSIS 64 4.6.1 Opportunity 67 4.6.2 Motivation 71 4.6.3 Ability 75 v 5.0 CASE 2: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 80 5.1 BACKGROUND 80 5.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .83 5.3 THE PROJECT 84 5.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION .102 5.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .108 5.6 OMA ANALYSIS 111 5.6.1 Opportunity 113 5.6.2 Motivation 117 5.6.3 Ability 120 6.0 CASE 3: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS .123 6.1 BACKGROUND 123 6.2 COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS .125 6.3 THE PROJECT .126 6.4 SYSTEM ASSIMILATION .138 6.5 THE KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS AND THEIR INTERACTION .142 6.6 OMA ANALYSIS 145 6.2.1 Opportunity 147 6.2.2 Motivation 151 6.2.3 Ability 155 7.0 CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS 157 7.1 KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 158 7.2 UNDERSTANDING INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE CLUSTERS 163 7.2.1 Identifying complementary specialized knowledge clusters 164 7.2.2 Providing a structure for knowledge clusters to interact 168 7.2.3 Motivating concerted effort of all knowledge clusters for effective knowledge integration .171 7.3 SOCIAL CAPITAL CONDITIONS THE KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION ENVIRONMENT 173 7.3.1 Opportunity provides access to knowledge clusters and facilitates knowledge location 175 7.3.2 Motivation provides the raison d’etre for Knowledge clusters’ involvement in the knowledge integration process 182 7.3.3 Ability provides dependency between knowlegde clusters for harmonious knowledge integration 189 7.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL CAPITAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS 196 8.0 IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 199 8.1 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 199 8.2 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS 202 8.3 CONCLUSION 207 8.3.1 Limitations 208 8.3.2 Future research .210 APPENDIX A - REFERENCES .211 APPENDIX B –SAMPLE QUESTIONS 230 vi SUMMARY This study was motivated by the growing number of inter-organizational arrangements, specifically for the implementation of outsourced IS development projects Since such projects require multiple expertise and specialized knowledge areas to be integrated for the purpose of a project and are bound by schedule, budget and design/requirement it seemed imperative to examine and understand how knowledge is integrated in such arrangements Most often the knowledge bases required for the projects are located in many different organizations and not in one single organization The problem is then of inter-organizational knowledge integration; integrating multiple and diverse knowledge bases across organizations Literature on knowledge integration in various settings was reviewed to help shed light on the study Most studies had one thing in common, they all indicate that social capital, a resource based on social relationships, can be important for and can influence knowledge integration positively Based on the literature review and the motivation to understand inter-organizational knowledge integration in IS projects a qualitative empirical study of three inter-organizational IS projects is embarked on Specifically the study aimed at: understanding knowledge integration in interorganizational IS projects and explicating the role of social capital in the phenomenon Based on evidence from the three cases, the thesis finds that interorganizational knowledge integration in IS projects occurs through knowledge clusters that are groups representing the various knowledge bases required for the project It is also observed that for inter-organizational knowledge integration, the vii knowledge clusters are identified, a structure is provided for their interaction and they are motivated to participate in the knowledge process In identifying the influence of social capital on knowledge integration in inter-organizational IS projects the study finds how the different aspects of social capital influence knowledge integration: The opportunity or structural dimension of social capital provides access to the knowledge clusters, the ability dimension provides shared understanding between the clusters and the motivational dimension provides a raison d’etre for the clusters to participate in the knowledge integration process The thesis not only demonstrates the influence of social capital but also elicits interventions that can help leverage social capital for effective knowledge integration in inter-organizational IS projects The concept of knowledge clusters is introduced in this study to provide a simplified and multidimensional understanding of the complex phenomenon of inter-organizational knowledge integration It also informs practitioners of a knowledge-cluster based strategy to manage inter-organizational IS projects In explicating the influence of social capital on knowledge integration the study also develops a conceptualization of social capital suitable for the context of inter-organizational IS projects It thus provides direction to practitioners on leveraging a resource that exist naturally albeit in different degrees in different organizations, for the benefit of the project viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Data Overview………………………………………………………… 38 Table 3.2: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 41 Table 3.3: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 41 Table 3.4: Case Data Collection details………………………………………… 42 Table 4.1: Collaborating Organizations in Case 1………………….……………….48 Table 4.2: Knowledge Clusters in Case1 ………………………………………….59 Table 4.3: OMA Analysis of Case 1……………………………………………… 66 Table 5.1: Knowledge Clusters in Case2 …………………………………………108 Table 5.2: OMA Analysis of Case 2……………………………………………….112 Table 6.1: Knowledge Clusters in Case 3……………………………………… …142 Table 6.2: OMA Analysis of Case 3……………………………………………….146 Table 7.1: Cross-case Analysis………………………………………………… …161 Table 7.2: Understanding Inter-organizational through knowledge clusters……….164 Table 7.3: Social Capital and Inter-organizational Knowledge Integration……… 175 Table 7.4: Cross-Case OMA Analysis ………………………….………… …….196 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The Knowledge Cluster……………… …… ………………………….11 Figure 2.2: Social Capital Framework…………………………………………….…30 Figure 4.1: Interaction of Knowledge Clusters in Case ……………………… 63 Figure 5.1: Interaction of Knowledge Clusters in Case …………………………109 Figure 6.1: 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Is information sharing one of the key concerns in this project? How would you rate the success of information sharing so far? Any interesting things about the Project Can you give us background on your company? 230 a Revenue, number of employees, how old is the company, nature of business etc b Interviewee’s Demographic information c What is your role in the company? d How many years have you been in this company? e What is your expertise and your role in the project? Project background: a What is the project about? b What is the contribution/role/involvement of your company in the project? c Who initiated this project and what was in it for your company? d How would you describe the interaction between all the organizations for purpose of the project, social and technical? e How did most of communication between team members take place? How much of ICT’s were used and were they helpful? What were some of the major issues in the project? a What according to you were the causes and how were they resolved? b Were the issues with a particular group/organization or general? Knowledge Integration a How easy/difficult was the process of knowledge sharing, knowledge exchange etc.? Why? b Did the fact that the team members belonged to different organizations affect/influence the project in any way? (Geographic dispersion, not much face-to-face interaction, difficult to arrange meetings etc.) 231 c Were the team members trained for any aspect during the project by any of the participating organization? (Technological/business) and did that help? d Were there any technologies that you used and did that make it easier? Social capital a Did members of the project have any prior relationships with each other, for instance through a prior project implementation or even socially? b Did the presence/absence of the social relationships facilitate/hinder the implementation in any way? c During project implementation did the project team engage in social activities (lunches etc.)? d What was the influence of such social activities on the project? e Was ‘trust’ or ‘knowing someone personally’ important at any stage? f How the relationships between team members after the project went live? Note: These questions were only used as a guide and most often the interviews were unstructured Questions resulted from the responses of the interviewees and this was important to make the interviewees comfortable 232 ... budget 2.4 KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION CHALLENGES IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL IS PROJECTS Achieving effective knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects is not easy given it involves the integration. .. of knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects, this study proposes to: 1) Understand the process of knowledge integration in interorganizational IS projects and 2) Examine how social. .. process In identifying the influence of social capital on knowledge integration in inter- organizational IS projects the study finds how the different aspects of social capital influence knowledge integration: