Mann, Tejinder

t.mann@lse.ac.uk

An Evaluation Perspective on Software Acquisition: the case of a business intelligence tool in an ERP environment utilising a neo-institutional framework

Information systems (IS) evaluation is among the most contentious of organisational processes. There is a barrage of complexities surrounding IS evaluations, from inappropriate reliance on managerial evaluation models to the inability to operationalise interpretivistic evaluation models, just to name a few.

However, despite these deficiencies we see knowledgeable IS practitioners utilising IS evaluation models to manage their IS projects, especially when acquiring commercial off the shelf (COTS) software. The continued use of inappropriate IS evaluation models may indicate that IS evaluation serves organisational needs other than rationalised measurement, like product diffusion and product legitimacy.

This research will explore the idea of analysing IS evaluation as an institutional activity with embedded biases within the process. The aim will be to examine the role of IS evaluation as an institutional 'gatekeeper' or 'gate-opener', promoting, through an 'organising vision', the widespread proliferation of homogeneous COTS software products into diverse organisational contexts.

Supervisor: Tony Cornford, PhD

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