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The increasing importance of information technology (IT) services in the global economy prompts researchers in the field of information systems (IS) to give special attention to the foundations of managerial and technical knowledge in this emerging arena of knowledge. Already we have seen the computer science discipline embrace the challenges of finding new directions in design science toward making services-oriented computing approaches more effective, setting the stage for the development of a new science-service science, management, and engineering (SSME). This paper addresses the issues from the point of view of service science as a fundamental area for IS research. We propose a robust framework for evaluating the research on service science, and the likely outcomes and new directions that we expect to see in the coming decade. We emphasize the multiple roles of producers and consumers of services-oriented technology innovations, as well as value-adding seller intermediaries and systems integrators, and standards organizations, user groups, and regulators as monitors. The analysis is cast in multidisciplinary terms, including computer science and IS, economics and finance, marketing, and operations and supply chain management. Evaluating the accomplishments and opportunities for research related to the SSME perspective through a robust framework enables in-depth assessment in the present, as well as an ongoing evaluation of new knowledge in this area, and the advancement of the related management practice capabilities to improve IT services in organizations.

How can we ensure high-quality public services such as health care and education? Governments spend huge amounts of public money on public services such as health, education, and social care, and yet the services that are actually delivered are often low quality, inefficiently run, unresponsive to their users, and inequitable in their distribution. In this book, Julian Le Grand argues that the best solution is to offer choice to users and to encourage competition among providers. Le Grand has just completed a period as policy advisor working within the British government at the highest levels, and from this he has gained evidence to support his earlier theoretical work and has experienced the political reality of putting public policy theory into practice. He examines four ways of delivering public services: trust; targets and performance management; \"voice\"; and choice and competition. He argues that, although all of these have their merits, in most situations policies that rely on extending choice and competition among providers have the most potential for delivering high-quality, efficient, responsive, and equitable services. But it is important that the relevant policies be appropriately designed, and this book provides a detailed discussion of the principal features that these policies should have in the context of health care and education. It concludes with a discussion of the politics of choice.

PurposeRecently, both practitioners and researchers are beginning to recognize the great potential of social gamification in green information technology (IT) services. This study focuses on the roles of three social gamification affordances (interactivity, cooperation and competition) in gamified green IT services use, from the perspectives of recognition and social overload.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey is conducted to examine the research model using structural equation modeling with users of Ant Forest, which is an example of green IT services in China.FindingsResults indicate that interactivity, cooperation and competition can positively affect recognition, which further positively affects green IT services use; however, interactivity and cooperation can increase social overload, which negatively affects green IT services use.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights into the effects of social gamification affordances in green IT services by investigating the effects of interactivity, cooperation and competition on recognition and social overload. In addition, this study highlights the positive effect of recognition and negative effect of social overload on gamified green IT services use, extending the literature reviews surrounding gamified services use.

Information technology (IT) service providers that offer both customized and routinized IT services (help-desk services, software services, business process outsourcing, consulting services) are often advised to consider moving up or down the value chain. Such advice is couched in language that emphasizes the revenue possibilities that exist higher up the value chain (moving from software outsourcing to packaged software, for instance) or volume that exists lower down in the value chain. However, the reality for firms that have attempted such moves is more ambiguous—many highly successful service providers have tried to move out of their niche and failed. Why? We address this question of why service providers may fail when they move up or down the value chain using agent-based modeling. We create a set of representative IT service firms, endow them with different types of resources and capabilities, and model the profitability implications of moves up and down the value chain in the presence of competitors. We run a series of simulations using these representative firms to see when such moves along the value chain are likely to be successful and when they are not. We find that firms moving up the value chain are successful only when such moves are accompanied by significant resource changes. In contrast, firms moving down the value chain are likely to be successful only if such moves are accompanied by learning capability arising out of higher absorptive capacity. Not surprisingly, we find that moves along with the value chain without significant investments in resources and capabilities, for the most part, end in failure. Information technology (IT) service providers are often advised to consider moving their service offerings along the value chain as a way to enhance their competitiveness. On the basis of this advice, service providers operating successfully at the lower end of the value chain have tried to expand into higher-order consulting services, whereas those operating higher up on the value chain have sought to expand into more routinized services. In both cases, such efforts have been met with limited success. In this paper, we examine why this might be the case, using an agent-based model developed specifically for this purpose. As part of the model, we use the resource-based view of the firm to construct agents, representing individual IT services firms with three distinct strategic orientations (archetypes) operating at different parts of the value chain with varying resource endowments. We then examine the outcomes associated with these firms when they transition along the value chain. Although we find that moving along the value chain is generally risky, we identify specific conditions under which such moves may be favorable to firms. We find that firms moving up the value chain are likely to be successful only if such moves are accompanied by significant resource changes. In contrast, firms moving down the value chain are likely to be successful only if such moves are accompanied by learning capability arising out of higher absorptive capacity. We find that resource fungibility moderates these relationships. We conclude with a discussion of the managerial implications of our study as well as opportunities for future empirical research within the IT services industry based on our propositions.

The Internet has presumably created a level playing field that allows any service provider across the globe to compete for contracts on online outsourcing platforms for information technology (IT) services. In this paper, we empirically examine (a) how country (language, time zone, cultural) differences and the country’s IT development affect buyers’ selection of service providers in online outsourcing platforms; and (b) how the reputation of service providers moderates the proposed effects of country differences and the country’s IT development. We integrated a unique data set formed by a sample of 11,541 software development projects from an online outsourcing platform matched with archival sources on the language, time zone, culture, and IT development of countries. Since price is typically endogenous in any supply demand system, we used the exogenous variation of the normalized exchange rate of the currency among countries, as a “cost-shifter” type instrumental variable (IV) for econometric identification. Our panel data analyses results (both with and without IV) show that buyers are negatively affected by country differences in terms of language, time zone, and culture, and prefer service providers from countries with higher IT development. Notably, the reputation of service providers attenuates the negative effects of language and cultural (but not time zone) differences, while it substitutes the positive effect of the country’s IT development. We discuss the study’s theoretical and managerial implications for understanding the global dynamics of online outsourcing platforms and better designing these platforms. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0709 .

The rapid pace of technological innovation necessitates that information technology (IT) services firms continually invest in replenishing the skills of their key asset base, the human capital. We examine whether human capital investments directed toward employee training are effective in improving employee performance. Our rich employee level panel data set affords us the opportunity to link formal training with performance at the individual employee level. Using a dynamic panel model, we identify a significant positive impact of training on employee performance. A unit increase in training is linked to a 2.14% increase in an employee's performance. Interestingly, we find that in the IT sector, skills atrophy and consequently high-experience employees reap higher returns from training, which highlights the uniquely dynamic nature of IT knowledge and skills. We also find that general training that an employee can utilize outside the focal firm improves employee performance. However, specific training pertinent to the focal firm is not positively linked to performance. On the other hand, although domain and technical training both enhance employee performance individually, the interaction between the two suggests a substitutive relationship. Thus, our findings suggest that the value of training is conditional on a focused curricular approach that emphasizes a structured competency development program. Our findings have both theoretical and practical significance. Most important, they justify increased human capital investments to fuel future growth in this important component of the global economy. This paper was accepted by Lorin Hitt, information systems.

Global online labor markets (OLMs) lower the barriers to entry and enable global competition for information technology (IT) services from providers around the world. Although the prior OLM literature predominantly found systematic advantages for IT service providers from developed countries because of their higher perceived quality, the reality is that most service providers in OLM are from developing countries. This phenomenon requires a robust analysis of how OLMs are evolving. In this study, we conduct a geo-economic analysis on IT service providers’ survival utilizing a unique longitudinal panel data set from an OLM, which comprises 40,874 IT service providers from different countries over a period of more than four years (2006 to 2010). Based on results from Survival models and a series of robustness checks, we were able to decipher how geo-economic factors (specifically the country development level) and reputation interact to determine service providers’ survival. Our findings provide a different perspective from the prior literature on OLM by showing a systematic advantage for IT service providers from developing countries in terms of survival, especially when providers from developing countries were able to signal their individual quality through reputation. We explain and discuss the mechanisms underlying these effects, and highlight implications for OLMs for IT services. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0751 .

This article describes how the Internet of Things (IoT) is a new paradigm shift in information technology (IT). The IoT manifests the phenomenon of ubiquitous computing when objects or ‘things' are connected to the Internet providing automated services related to the things. However, few studies investigated the acceptance of these services by customers. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to investigate the factors that affect the acceptance and use of the IoT services by customers of telecommunication companies in Jordan. A total of 176 respondents participate in this study and the collected data is analyzed using SPSS. The findings indicate that behavioral intention significantly affects the use behavior of IoT services. In addition, IT knowledge is the most important factor that affects the behavioral intention followed by other factors.

The importance of building relationships with customers and trust in the services provider is well documented in the marketing literature. Conceptually, we extend this logic to the context of internal information technology (IT) services operations through the notion of the service delivery chain. The purpose of the study is to examine how key service mechanisms in operational IT implementation are related to employee perceptions of actual system benefits and trust in the IT services provider. We report on a study with 380 employees of 14 bank affiliates that were recently acquired by a bank holding company. The focus of the study is on postimplementation trust rather than preimplementation or initial trust, and the service provider is viewed as the object of trust rather than the technology. Our findings suggest that training, trial, and social influence are key service mechanisms an IT services provider can use to stimulate trust in the IT services provider and the realization of system benefits.

Cloud-based information management is one of the leading competitive differentiation strategies for firms. With the increasing criticality of information management in value creation and process support, establishing an integrated capability with cloud computing is vital for organizational success in the changing landscape of business competition. These issues have received scant attention, however. We draw on the resource-based view, dynamic capability hierarchy concepts, and the perspective of operand and operant resources to suggest a cloud value appropriation model for firms. We argue that, to appropriate business value from cloud computing, the firm needs to effectively deploy cloud computing and leverage cloud operant resources as firm capabilities in a hierarchical fashion toward the development of cloud computing-based service models in order to reliably achieve the desired business outcomes. We propose a model encompassing the principles of infrastructure and cloud platform deployment, integration and service orientation, and alignment with business processes that explain the linkage from cloud computing to firm performance. We test this approach to value creation with a cloud computing implementation assessment model using a sample of 147 firms that have implemented cloud computing in India. Our analysis uncovers a strategic value appropriation path from cloud technological capability to firm performance via cloud integration capability, cloud service portfolio capability, and business flexibility. This research offers new insights regarding the underlying mechanisms for how cloud computing affects firm performance via cloud-enabled capabilities and the business functions that are supported by cloud capabilities.