A Literature Review of Coordination Mechanisms: Contrasting Organization Science and Information Systems Perspectives

Information systems (IS) research has long been promoting the necessity of aligning local IS investments in organizations with their enterprise-wide objectives. One of the prominent means to realize such an alignment are mechanisms that coordinate various stakeholders in different organizational entities. Despite its prominent origins and manifold translations from organization science (OS), there is no single theory on coordination. The research at hand conducts a literature review of the underlying coordination mechanisms to offer a comprehensive understanding of coordination for prospective IS research. To this end and structured in eight categories of mechanisms, we contrast the reflection of coordination in OS and IS research. In outlining implications for future research, we also discuss how IS studies follow and complement OS research.

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