Information Systems And The Economics Of Innovation

This book identifies and discusses critical issues of ICT innovation at both the macroeconomic and organisational levels, bringing together two hitherto independent fields of study: economics and information systems. The book takes stock of these two fields, highlighting their complementarity in contemporary issues such as business competitiveness and e-commerce, organisational change and industrial restructuring, information systems implementation and technology infrastructure building.

The contributions cover a broad range of issues, from analysing policy approaches for fostering ICT innovation at a regional level, to examining the way in which ICT-based information systems and organisational practice are simultaneously shaped.

The book elaborates an understanding of innovation as shaped largely in context, rather than ‘diffused’ from the place of its conception into the place of its implementation. The theoretical perspectives offered by the authors include institutional economics, evolutionary economics, social constructivism, and structuration theory. Collectively, the chapters of this book present ICT innovation as a dynamic process involving multiple actors in multiple locations, codified and tacit knowledge, and instrumental and situated behaviour.

This pathbreaking book will be of enormous interest to students, researchers and academics specialising in economics, information systems and ICT innovation, as well as policy and management consultants involved in information systems and development.

Contents: Preface Introduction Part I: Infrastructures, Awareness Building and Development of Capabilities 1. The Evolution of the Information Society and Regional Development in Europe 2. Development and Telecommunications Access: Cases from South Asia 3. The Computer Sciences Academic Community and the Diffusion of Internet in Brazil 4. IT Diffusion for Public Service Delivery: Looking for Plausible Theoretical Approaches Part II: ICT Adoption 5. ICT Adoption in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Lessons from Case Studies 6. Understanding the Adoption of E-Commerce 7. Institutional and Resource-based Perspectives of IT and Organizational Change: Cases from the Nigerian Banking Industry Part III: Innovation in the Organizational Setting of ICT Use 8. New Socio-technical Perspectives of IS Innovation in Organizations 9. Information Systems and New Technologies: Taking Shape in Use 10. Perspectives on ICT Innovation and Organizational Context Conclusions Index