The Information Organization: On Changes in Information Technology and Organizational Design
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this monograph, we adopt the perspective of organizations as processors of knowledge that collect, create, combine and/or analyze data through information technology (IT) to locate and coordinate decisions, improve performance evaluations, and enhance interest alignment. We distinguish between information communication and information processing technologies. Pivotal to our framework is whether IT improves coordination or improves incentives, and thereby the extent of (de)centralization. We document that evidence on IT’s effect on (de)centralization is ambiguous, but reconcile how advanced IT may improve decisions and lower agency costs. Complementarities thus feature strongly in our rendering of IT’s effects on organizational design. We end with some suggestions, such as the need to consider the lifecycle of IT effects, acknowledging the slow and complex, though pervasive, nature of technology adoption in organizations.
DOI: 10.1561/1400000065
Authors: Michael Gibbs, Wim A. Van der Stede
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4408629334