Exploring the research in information technology implementation

Information Technology (IT) plays a critical role in the survival and growth of business organizations. Increasing investment in IT and the strategic role played by information systems make TT implementation an important research issue within the MIS discipline. Even though much research has been done to understand IT implementation, there is a lack of effort to integrate the findings and to evaluate the status of research in this area. The objective of this study is to explore the intellectual development and evolution of IT implementation research through a meta-analysis of published MIS research. The findings are based on an analysis of 71 articles on IT implementation published during 1976-1995 in top MIS research journals. The results indicate that IT implementation research is sensitive to the evolving role of IT in organizations. There is a shift in emphasis from studying individual IT to organizational and inter-organizational IT. A preference for theory building research away from exploratory research in recent times indicates a level of maturity in IT implementation research. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.