Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (4-Volumes) P146

The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal 2004; Shilton, personal communication, Febru-ary 24, 2004). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY The discipline of information systems is, by its very nature, a socio-technical one. While researchers in computer science may choose to concentrate on a study of aspects of computer hardware and software alone, the business of information systems is how people interact with and use computer-based systems. Information systems are complex socio-technical entities involving both human and non-human compo-nents: systems analysts, designers, programmers, end-users, managers, PCs, mainframes, software, data and operating systems. These are only some of the many heterogeneous components of an in- it technical?” as missing the point, which should EH³,VWKLVDVVRFLDWLRQVWURQJHURUZHDNHUWKDQ that one?” (Latour, 1988, p. 27). ANT offers this notion of heterogeneity to describe projects such as the Portal Project discussed in this chapter in which a local semi-government organisation has engaged an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a computer software company to build a B2B por-tal for use by SMEs within a regional area. The project involved not just these entities, but also non-human entities such as computers, modems, telephone lines, Web development tools, and hu-man entities including local business proprietors from small- and medium-sized enterprises, cus-tomers, programmers, development managers, and local government staff. As their use necessarily creates change, the implementation of a new information system, or the upgrading of an existing system, should be viewed in terms of technological innovation formation system. Research into the implementa- 7DWQDOO %XUJHVV7KHZRUG³LQQRYDWLRQ´ tion and operation of information systems needs WRWDNHWKLVKHWHURJHQHLW\LQWRDFFRXQWDQG¿QG a way to give due regard to both the human and non-human aspects of these systems. While many approaches to research in tech-nological areas treat the social and the technical in entirely different ways, actor-network theory (ANT) proposes instead a socio-technical account in which neither social nor technical positions are privileged. ANT deals with the social-technical divide by denying that purely technical or purely social relations are possible, and considers the world to be full of hybrid entities (Latour, 1993) containing both human and non-human ele-ments. Actor-network theory developed around problems associated with attempts to handle VRFLRWHFKQLFDO³LPEURJOLRV´/DWRXUOLNH electric cars (Callon, 1986a), supersonic aircraft (Law & Callon, 1988), and a new railway system in Paris (Latour, 1996) by regarding the world as heterogeneous (Chagani, 1998). The utilisation of heterogeneous entities (Bijker, Hughes, & Pinch, WKHQDYRLGVTXHVWLRQVRI³,VLWVRFLDO"´RU³,V LVV\QRQ\PRXVZLWK³QHZQHVV´DQG³FKDQJH´ (Dutch, 1962), and an innovation can be described as an idea that is perceived to be new to a particu-lar person or group of people (Rogers, 1995). As almost all information systems implementations ¿WWKLVGHVFULSWLRQLWLVTXLWHDSSURSULDWHWRPDNH use of innovation theory when researching these systems. This chapter describes a research ap-proach, based on actor-network theory (Callon & Latour, 1981; Latour, 1986, 1996; Law, 1988), used WRLQYHVWLJDWHDVSHFL¿FLQQRYDWLRQWKHGHVLJQDQG implementation of a business-to-business (B2B) portal for small to medium enterprises (SME) in a regional area of an Australian city. Adoption of the Bizewest portal must be seen as an innovation and examined accordingly. Information systems researchers using an actor-network approach in this investigation concentrate on issues of network formation, investigating the human and non-human actors and the alliances and networks they build up (Tatnall & Gilding, 1999). They concentrate on the negotiations that allow WKHQHWZRUNWREHFRQ¿JXUHGE\WKHHQUROPHQWRI 1384 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal both human and non-human allies, and consider any supposed characteristics of the technology only as network effects resulting from associa-WLRQ$QDFWRULVVHHQQRWMXVWDVD³SRLQWREMHFW´ but rather as an association of heterogeneous elements, which constitute a network. Each ac-WRULVWKXVLWVHOIDOVRDVLPSOL¿HGQHWZRUN/DZ 1992). In actor-network theory, interactions and associations between actors and networks are the important thing, and actors are seen only as the sum of their interactions with other actors and networks. Some examples of the use of actor-network WKHRU\LQWKHLQIRUPDWLRQV\VWHPV¿HOGDUHLQ investigating the adoption of Visual Basic as a programming language by a major Australian university (Tatnall, 2000), the adoption and use of Internet technologies by older people (Tatnall & Lepa, 2001), the adoption of a particular approach to systems analysis by a local council in the UK (McMaster, Vidgen, & Wastell, 1997) and to a car parking system (Vidgen & McMaster, 1996). $QH[DPSOHRILWVXVHLQWKHVPDOOEXVLQHVV¿HOG is given by Tatnall (2002). Innovation translation, from actor-network theory, offers useful insights on how innovation occurs, and the remainder of this chapter will make use of this approach. It is often the case that an SME which is considering some technological innovation is interested in only some aspects of this innovation and not others (Tatnall, 2001). In actor-network terms, it needs to translate (Callon, 1986b) this piece of technology into a form where it can be adopted. This may mean choosing some elements of the technology and leaving out others, UHVXOWLQJLQZKDWLV¿QDOO\DGRSWHGQRWEHLQJWKH innovation in its original form, but a translation of it into a form that is suitable for use by the recipient small business (Tatnall, 2002). Callon (1986b) outlines the process of transla-WLRQDVKDYLQJIRXU³PRPHQWV´WKH¿UVWRIZKLFK he calls problematisationRU³KRZWREHFRPH indispensable”, in which one or more key actors DWWHPSWVWRGH¿QHWKHQDWXUHRIWKHSUREOHPDQG WKHUROHVRIRWKHUDFWRUVWR¿WWKHVROXWLRQSURSRVHG 7KHSUREOHPLVUHGH¿QHGLQWHUPVRIVROXWLRQVRI-fered by these actors, who then attempt to establish WKHPVHOYHVDVDQ³REOLJDWRU\SDVVDJHSRLQW´&DO-lon, 1986b) which must be negotiated as part of its solution. The second moment is interessement, or ³KRZDOOLHVDUHORFNHGLQSODFH´DQGLVDVHULHVRI processes which attempt to impose the identities DQGUROHVGH¿QHGLQWKHSUREOHPDWLVDWLRQRQWKH other actors. It means interesting and attracting an actor by coming between it and some other actor (Law, 1986). The third moment, enrolment RU³KRZWRGH¿QHDQGFRRUGLQDWHWKHUROHV´ZLOO then follow, leading to the establishment of a stable network of alliances. For enrolment to be success-ful, however, it requires more than just one set of actors imposing their will on others; it also requires these others to yield (Singleton & Michael, 1993). Finally, mobilisationRU³DUHWKHVSRNHVSHUVRQV representative?” occurs as the proposed solution gains wider acceptance (McMaster et al., 1997) and an even larger network of absent entities is created (Grint & Woolgar, 1997) through some actors acting as spokespersons for others. While a simplistic view of the adoption of B2B portals would have it that businesses make their adoption decisions primarily because of the portal’s characteristics, this would miss other LQÀXHQFHVGXHWRLQWHUEXVLQHVVLQWHUDFWLRQVDQG the backgrounds of the people involved. This is the type of approach that would be used if framing the research through innovation diffusion (Rog-ers, 1995). The theory of Innovation Diffusion is based on the notion that adoption of an innovation involves the spontaneous or planned spread of QHZLGHDVDQG5RJHUVGH¿QHVDQLQQRYDWLRQDV ³DQLGHDSUDFWLFHRUREMHFWWKDWLVSHUFHLYHG as new” (Rogers, 1995, p. 11). In diffusion theory, the existence of an in-novation is seen to cause uncertainty in the minds of potential adopters (Berlyne, 1962), and uncertainty implies a lack of predictability and of information. Uncertainty can be considered as the degree to which a number of alternatives 1385 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal are perceived in relation to the occurrence of some event, along with the relative probabilities of each of these alternatives occurring (Lepa & Tatnall, 2002). Diffusion is considered to be an information exchange process amongst members of a communicating social network, driven by the need to reduce uncertainty. Those involved in considering adoption of the innovation are motivated to seek information to reduce this uncertainty. The new ideas upon which an in-novation is based are communicated over time, through various types of communication channels, among the members of a social system. Thus, there are four main elements of innovation diffusion: characteristic of the innovation itself, the nature of the communication channels, the passage of time, and the social system through which the innovation diffuses (Rogers, 1995). Using an essentialist approach like this to the research, the researcher may begin by outlining all the characteristics of B2B portals and all the advantages and problems associated with their use, and then go on to suggest that the adoption, or rejection, of this technology by the local busi-nesses was due largely to these characteristics. While this is likely to be partially true, it is unlikely to provide a complete explanation. In this case, the actor-network research began by identifying some of the important actors, start-ing with WREDO’s portal project manager. The interview with the project manager revealed why WKHSURMHFWZDVLQVWLJDWHGDQGLGHQWL¿HGVRPH of the other actors. She reiterated how, while WREDO had commissioned and was to oversee the project, the portal software development was to be undertaken by a software company. One line of inquiry resulting from the interview with the project manager was to approach the portal software designer and programmers. It was de-termined that another set of actors consisted of the proprietors of the local businesses themselves, DQGWKHSURMHFWPDQDJHUVXJJHVWHGVRPH³EXVLQHVV FKDPSLRQV´WRLQWHUYLHZ¿UVWWR¿QGRXWZK\WKH\ KDGDGRSWHGWKHSRUWDODQGZKDWKDGLQÀXHQFHG them in doing so. Some of these business people WKHQSRLQWHGWRWKHLQÀXHQFHH[HUWHGE\WKHFRP-SXWHUKDUGZDUHRUVRIWZDUHDVDVLJQL¿FDQWIDFWRU so identifying some non-human actors. From this point on, the key was to follow the actors, both human and non-human, searching out interactions, negotiations, alliances, and networks. Negotiations between actors needed to be carefully investigated. Apart from the obvious human-to-human kind of negotiation, there were also human-to-non-human interactions such as the business people trying to work out how the portal operates, and how to adapt this technology to their own business purposes. In ANT terms, WKH\³QHJRWLDWHG´ZLWKWKHSRUWDOVRIWZDUHWRVHH ZKDWLWFRXOGGRIRUWKHPDQGLW³QHJRWLDWHG´ZLWK them to convince them to adopt its way of doing business. (Obviously, this is not to suggest any direct agency on the part of the software itself, and is just ANT’s way of describing how the hu-man software designers imparted properties to the software that may or may not have made it useful to the SMEs.) The process of adopting and implementing the portal could now be seen as the complex set of interactions that it was, and not just the inevitable result of the innate characteristics of this technology as innovation diffusion theory would suggest. Persuading Local SMEs to Use the Bizewest Portal For the project to be successful, the Bizewest portal needed to be seen by the proprietors of the SMEs as a necessary means of undertaking e-commerce and business-to-business transactions. They needed to be convinced that this technology was more worthwhile and offered them better business prospects than the approaches, such as post or fax, which they had previously used. In actor-network terms, the portal needed to set up a problematisation (Callon, 1986b) of B2B trading WKDWEURXJKWRXWWKHEHQH¿WVRIXVLQJDSRUWDOIRU this purpose. There also needed to be an interes- 1386 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal sement (Callon, 1986b) to interest and convince these SMEs to change from their old business culture and adopt the portal. It was not enough for those promoting the portal to eloquently espouse LWVEHQH¿WV7KH60(VZRXOGDOVRKDYHWRJLYH up at least some of their old methods of busi-ness-to-business transactions. After enrolment of these businesses, the portal could be judged to be truly successful when SME proprietors began advocating its advantages to each other (Tatnall & Burgess, 2002). In actor-network theory, Callon EFDOOVWKLVSURFHVV³PRELOLVDWLRQ´ Interviews with various stakeholders in-volved in the project, including the project manager, software designers and programmers, and some businesses that were using the portal were conducted in late 2001 and early 2002. 2QHSDUWLFXODUO\LPSRUWDQWJURXSZHUHWKH¿YH FRPSDQLHVGHVLJQDWHGE\:5(`2DV³EXVLQHVV champions” for this project. Some of the issues considered important by several of these business champions are discussed below. One of the busi-ness champions was a medium-sized Melbourne company, with about 100 employees, that stores frozen food and transports it to supermarkets and other locations around the country. A major reason that this company adopted the portal was the hope that it would provide a better opportunity to deal with people in the local region (Tatnall & Burgess, 2004). The general manager indicated that although he did not really understand much about the portal or what it would do, he thought LWZDVJRLQJWRSURYLGHPDQ\EHQH¿WVIRUHYHU\-body, not just his company. This was important to him. He could see use of the portal changing his business by enabling it to use people in the ORFDOUHJLRQDQGWKDW³ZRUNLQJWRJHWKHUIRUWKH EHQH¿WRIHYHU\ERG\´ZRXOGEHDGYDQWDJHRXV for the region (Cold Storage[software developer], personal communication, September 3, 2001). $¿UPRIVROLFLWRUVKDGDOVRMXVWVWDUWHGPDN-ing use of the portal and were trying to work out the best ways to utilise it to advantage. Their primary goal was to use the portal to increase WKHLU YLVLELOLW\ ³:KDW ZH ZDQW LV IRU SHRSOH to discover something that they may not have recognised, and that is that there is a top quality legal service in the Western Region that they can come to for most of their legal services.” They KDGIHZVSHFL¿FH[SHFWDWLRQVRIWKHSRUWDOEXW hoped later to allow businesses to register inter-est and gain some access to their legal services using the portal (Footscray Solicitors, personal communication, 2001). Another business champion was a small printer with 15 employees that had just begun using the SRUWDO7KH\VDZWKHSRUWDODVKDYLQJ³IDQWDVWLF possibilities” but there were currently some prob-OHPV³,VXSSRVHWKDWSHRSOHZKRDUHRQWKHSRUWDO see us and they contact us, but there is something wrong with it at the moment. The problem is that they can’t actually send for a quote with us. It KDVWREH¿[HGXSEXWRQFHLWLV¿[HGLWZLOOEH good.” (Printing Press, personal communication, August 6, 2001). They were, however, not quite sure what use of the portal in their business might eventually lead to. Finally, a textile company just outside the metropolitan area was using the portal mainly for promoting their image but did intend to move to %%RSHUDWLRQVLQWKHIXWXUH³,WKLQNWKDWLWZLOO be inevitable, but not next month, it’s still a year or two off. I’m uncertain of what the plan is at this point; there is no plan.” One of the problems that this medium-sized business faced was lack of computing expertise. This is a common problem among SMEs (Burgess, 2002). Typically there are one or two people who know something about computers, but do not have much spare time to SODQDQGLPSOHPHQWWKHVHV\VWHPV³,WKLQNWKH way that we will go is like many businesses; we will dip our toe in the water and do some basic ordering: stationery that’s a common one. We will choose to start the ball rolling, get our head around a few of the practical issues of that, and then on to bigger things” (Textile Company, per-sonal communication, August 20, 2001). 1387 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal In summary, these interviews showed that most businesses adopting the portal did so because it VHHPHGWRWKHPWREH³DJRRGLGHD´UDWKHUWKDQ EHFDXVHWKH\KDGDQ\FOHDULGHDRILWVEHQH¿WV Few had looked objectively at the characteristics of portal technology or business-to-business e-commerce. Common reason for adoption included: ³,IRWKHUEXVLQHVVHVDGRSWLWDQGZHGRQ¶WZHZLOO EHOHIWEHKLQG´³$OOWKHWDONLVDERXWHFRPPHUFH DQGKRZLWLVWKHZD\RIWKHIXWXUH´³,WGRHVQ¶W look too hard to make it work, and we have little WRORVH´DQG³0\NLGVWHOOPHWKDWHYHU\RQHZLOO be on the Internet soon and we had better be too” (Tatnall & Burgess, 2002, pp. 179-191). An interview with the portal software devel-oper was also quite enlightening. When asked Table 1. Usage of the Bizewest portal—Sessions Month September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 Sessions 2208 3672 2848 2766 2706 2804 2934 2254 2865 2200 78 One Minute Sessions 68.7% 77.1% 74.6% 71.7% 82.9% 86.7% 88.8% 87.7% 86.4% 84.1% 75.6% One Page Sessions 86.2% 90.0% 88.0% 85.9% 90.2% 89.6% 90.5% 88.7% 86.7% 86.8% 85.9% Table 2. Usage of the Bizewest portal—Hits Month September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 Sessions 2208 3672 2848 2766 2706 2804 2934 2254 2865 2200 78 Average Hits Per Session 8.2 5.7 7.3 9.1 6.3 4.9 5.6 6.1 7.0 7.7 2.4 Total Hits 17991 21022 20690 25094 16949 13830 16320 13815 20099 16904 189 1388 ... - tailieumienphi.vn