Ups and Downs in IS Projects - The Dynamic Interplay Between Control and Emotions

The control of information systems (IS) projects is an important pursuit for organizations that are seeking to realize the value-creating capabilities of IT. Realizing this goal, however, has proven to be a complex undertaking that has engendered research illustrating unique challenges of IS project control. Extant research in this domain has focused primarily on the configuration of controls in terms of control modes and control amounts, but has largely overlooked ongoing dynamics of control (i.e., a process view) and is reticent on the socio-emotional aspects of control processes. In this study, we report preliminary findings of a longitudinal case study that evaluates the dynamic interplay between control activities and emotions within the context of a largescale healthcare information systems (HIS) project. Early findings show that emotions can impact, or be impacted by, control activities, but also provide some seemingly paradoxical evidence regarding the mechanisms underpinning this dynamic.

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