Open generification
Authors: Gizaw, Abyot Asalefew; Bygstad, Bendik; Nielsen, Petter
Journal: Information Systems Journal (2017)
DOI: 10.1111/isj.12112
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>To what extent can software ‘travel’ to organizations and countries for which it was not designed for, and how important are local contexts for a successful design and implementation of generic software? Information systems researchers have differing views on this, some emphasizing the strengths of the generic and others the importance of contextual aspects. Contributing to this debate, Pollock and Williams have coined the term generification in order to describe how large vendors succeed in globalizing software packages through management by community, content and social authority. In this paper, we explore an approach that we call<jats:italic>open generification</jats:italic>, which extends Pollock and Williams' work in the sense that we acknowledge the need for and the feasibility of generic software, but propose an alternative model for the governance of it. Open generification is not about managing the community of users attached to a software package by homogenization or segmentation but aims at addressing the diverse needs of the community the software is expected to serve. Our empirical basis is a longitudinal study of the developme…