Information systems evaluation and benchmarking for business performance improvement
Special issue call for papers from Business Process Management Journal
Call for papers deadline: 1st March 2010
Guest Editors: Stefan Smolnik, Nils Urbach and Jerry L. Fjermestad
Aim and scope
Annual worldwide spending on information technology (IT) has been increasing for many years. By 2010, International Data Cooperation expects the total expenditure on IT to reach 1.48 trillion US dollars. Simultaneously, however, a greater number of information systems (IS) failures are still emerging. A questionnaire-based survey carried out in 2006 in the USA indicated that only 62 per cent of software projects were considered successful. The measurement of investments and developed systems' success, as well as the paradox of high investments and low productivity returns (``productivity paradox''), therefore remain a top concern for both practitioners and researchers.
During the last two and a half decades, measuring IS success -- the clarification of an important dependent variable in IS research -- has been a popular stream of research. A number of models have been proposed in attempts to define IS success and identify the various causes of success or failure respectively. Complementarily, the benchmarking method allows for an external perspective on the unit of analysis and therefore for an inter-organizational comparison. Thus, organizations are able to assess costs and benefits of IS with respect to a peer group. In addition, benchmarking establishes standards as well as a shared understanding and common procedures.
Researchers and practitioners interested in submitting papers to this special issue are encouraged to present research into strategies, methodologies, and stories that relate to assessing and benchmarking IS with the objective of improving business processes and overall business performance. In addition, this special issue will be used to explore the bodies of performance measurements that define the current state of research in measuring IS success.
Possible paper topics:
- Frameworks and models for assessing IS success/effectiveness
- Measuring IS success/effectiveness in global organizations and globally dispersed communities
- Impact of strategic, organizational, process-related, cultural, and other issues on IS success
- Contribution of IS to improving business processes and their performance
- From process measurement to performance improvement using IS
- Critical discussion of existing approaches (DM IS Success Model, TAM, etc.)
- IS success factors and key business process management performance indicators
- Benchmarking initiatives comparing IS across different organizations and industries
- Exploring security system success and security benchmarking
- Empirical studies evaluating different kinds of IS such as:
--Customer Relationship Management Systems
--Project (Portfolio) Management Systems
--Business Process Management and Workflow Management Systems
--Knowledge Management Systems
--Decision Support Systems
--Collaborative Systems
--Enterprise Systems. - Case studies of IS success and performance evaluation
- Why does focusing on system requirements not lead to system success?
Author guidelines
All papers will be subject to a rigorous double-blind peer review. Please see BPMJ author guidelines for further details at:
http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=bpmj
Submission guidelines
All submissions should be made though ScholarOne Manuscripts, following the guidelines below:
Registering on ScholarOne Manuscripts
To submit your paper online you must create an author account:
- Log on to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bpmj
- Click on the ``create account'' link at the top right of the screen.
- Follow the on-screen instructions, filling in the requested details before proceeding
- Your username will be your e-mail address and you have to input a password of at least eight characters in length and containing two or more numbers
- Click ``Finish'' and your account has been created.
Submitting an article on ScholarOne Manuscripts
- Once registered, go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bpmj with your username and password. This will take you through to the Welcome page. (To consult the Author Guidelines for this journal, click on the Home Page link in the Resources column on the login page).
- Click on the Author Centre button.
- Follow the ``Click here to submit a new manuscript'' link, which will take you through to the Manuscript Submission page.
Complete all fields and browse to upload your article to the ``IS evaluation and benchmarking . . .'' special issue. - You must upload a minimum of two files -- your article file (with no author details) and a separate title page (with all author contact details).
- When all required sections are completed, preview your .pdf proof.
- Submit your manuscript.
Guidance can be found on the Emerald ScholarOne Manuscripts Support Centre (http://msc.emeraldinsight.com).
If you are unable to find the answer for which you are looking, please e-mail: manuscriptcentral@emeraldinsight.com for assistance.
When your paper is successfully submitted you will receive an e-mail indicating that your paper has been received together with its unique identity number. If you experience any problems please e-mail: manuscriptcentral@emeraldinsight.com quoting the journal to which you are submitting and your article title.
More author guidelines, along with sample papers and other relevant information for submitting a paper are available at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/bpmj.htm
Schedule
Submission deadline 1 March 2010
Author feedback returned by 1 June 2010
Guest Editors
Stefan Smolnik (Primary Contact),
Institute of Research on Information Systems (IRIS),
European Business School (EBS), Rheingaustr. 1,
65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Germany
Tel:: +49 6723 991-246
Fax: +49 6723 991-255
E-mail: Stefan.Smolnik@ebs.edu
Nils Urbach, Institute of Research on Information Systems (IRIS), European Business School (EBS), Rheingaustr. 1,
65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Germany
Tel: +49 6723 991-256
Fax: +49 6723 991-255
E-mail: Nils.Urbach@ebs.edu
Jerry L. Fjermestad, School of Management,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark,
New Jersey 07102, USA
Tel: 1 973 596-3255
E-mail: jerry.l.fjermestad@njit.edu