The Role of Organizational and Information Technology Antecedents in Reengineering Initiation Behavior

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has been a major catalyst of the pervasive organizational change we have witnessed over the past decade. Although one can speculate on the reasons for the popularity of this phenomenon, it is important that we carefully examine its underlying antecedents for initiation, implementation, and ultimately success, if we are to add value to practitioners of this concept. This study empirically examines the importance of facets of the organizational structure, IT knowledge resources and infrastructure, and the IS function in the initiation of BPR. Data from 313 corporations were gathered using a carefully validated survey, and initiators were compared with noninitiators. The results strongly suggest that client-server architectures, the strategic integration of IS, and cross departmental interaction are among the more important factors facilitating initiation and can be important inputs in a BPR decision-making process. The study attempts to build a contingent theory for BPR, and the more sustainable notion of fundamental process change.

[1]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[2]  Moshe Zviran,et al.  A measure for determining the strategic relevance of IS to the organization , 1992, Inf. Manag..

[3]  J. Ettlie,et al.  Organization Strategy and Structural Differences for Radical Versus Incremental Innovation , 1984 .

[4]  D. G. Morrison.  On the Interpretation of Discriminant Analysis , 1969 .

[5]  G. Huber,et al.  Retrospective reports of strategic‐level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy , 1985 .

[6]  Varun Grover,et al.  Special Section: Toward a Theory of Business Process Change Management , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[7]  Y. Gupta,et al.  Impact of Information Systems (IS) Steering Committees on IS Planning , 1989 .

[8]  J. Dutton,et al.  The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis , 1986 .

[9]  V. Grover.  An Empirically Derived Model for the Adoption of Customer‐based Interorganizational Systems* , 1993 .

[10]  B. Zirger,et al.  A study of success and failure in product innovation: The case of the U.S. electronics industry , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[11]  E. A. Hall,et al.  How to Make Reengineering Really Work , 1994 .

[12]  Kirk D. Fiedler,et al.  Business Process Reengineering: Charting a Strategic Path for the Information Age , 1994 .

[13]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. , 1977 .

[14]  William D. Perreault,et al.  A Conceptual Paradigm and Approach for the Study of Innovators , 1981 .

[15]  H. Cooper,et al.  A Quantitative Review of Research Design Effects on Response Rates to Questionnaires , 1983 .

[16]  Varun Grover,et al.  From business reengineering to business process change management: a longitudinal study of trends and practices , 1999 .

[17]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  PRECONDITIONS FOR BPR SUCCESS And How to Prevent Failures , 1994 .

[18]  Thomas W. Malone,et al.  Expert systems: the next challenge for managers , 1986 .

[19]  Rajesh Mirani.  End-user support in information centers: a contingency perspective , 1992 .

[20]  Philip J. Pyburn,et al.  Linking the MIS Plan with Corporate Strategy: An Exploratory Study , 1983, MIS Q..

[21]  R. Zmud,et al.  Information technology implementation research: a technological diffusion approach , 1990 .

[22]  David A. Nadler,et al.  Organizing for Innovation , 1986 .

[23]  L. G. Tornatzky,et al.  Innovation characteristics and innovation adoption-implementation: A meta-analysis of findings , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[24]  Lawrence B. Mohr,et al.  Toward a Theory of Innovation , 1979 .

[25]  P. H. Friesen,et al.  Innovation in Conservative and Entrepreneurial Firms: Two Models of Strategic Momentum , 1982 .

[26]  Albert H. Segars,et al.  Strategic Information Systems Planning Success: An Investigation of the Construct and Its Measurement , 1998, MIS Q..

[27]  Michael J. Earl,et al.  The new and the old of business process redesign , 1994, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[28]  Donna B. Stoddard,et al.  Reengineering: Business Change of Mythic Proportions? , 1994, MIS Q..

[29]  Fariborz Damanpour,et al.  The Adoption of Technological, Administrative, and Ancillary Innovations: Impact of Organizational Factors , 1987 .

[30]  Ernesto M. Reza,et al.  Organizational Integration and Process Innovation , 1992 .

[31]  F. Damanpour.  Organizational Innovation: A Meta-Analysis Of Effects Of Determinants and Moderators , 1991 .

[32]  E. B. Swanson,et al.  Information systems innovation among organizations , 1994 .

[33]  Robert G. Eccles,et al.  Improving the Corporate Disclosure Process , 1995 .

[34]  R. Daft.  A Dual-Core Model of Organizational Innovation , 1978 .

[35]  H. Russell Johnston,et al.  Developing Capabilities to Use Information Strategically , 1988, MIS Q..

[36]  Varun Grover,et al.  Information technology enabled business process redesign: An integrated planning framework , 1993 .