In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
In the age of the smart machine: the future of work and power
The electronic sweatshop
Managing I/S design teams: a control theories perspective
Management Science
Controlling prototype development through risk analysis
MIS Quarterly
Communications of the ACM
A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems
MIS Quarterly - Special issue on intensive research in information systems
Reinterpreting the demise of hierarchy: a case study in IT, empowerment, and incomplete contracts
ICIS '97 Proceedings of the eighteenth international conference on Information systems
Investigating information systems with action research
Communications of the AIS
Conducting action research: high risk and high reward in theory and practice
Qualitative research in IS
ACM SIGMIS Database - Special issue on Critical analysis of ERP systems: the macro level
Journal of Management Information Systems - Special section: The impacts of business process change on organizational performance
Exploring Perceptions of Organizational Ownership of Information and Expertise
Journal of Management Information Systems
European Journal of Information Systems - Special issue: Making enterprise systems work
Information technology and the autonomy—control duality: toward a theory
Information Technology and Management
Managing IT implementation processes
International Journal of Business Information Systems
Information Systems Management
Foucault's corollary: agency theory and the economics of self-monitoring
International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations
Radio frequency identification: a case study of healthcare organisations
International Journal of Security and Networks
An examination of the antecedents and consequences of organizational IT innovation in hospitals
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems
The Impact of Automation of Systems on Medical Errors: Evidence from Field Research
Information Systems Research
IS Avoidance in Health-Care Groups: A Multilevel Investigation
Information Systems Research
Unity in Diversity: Electronic Patient Record Use in Multidisciplinary Practice
Information Systems Research
Information Systems Research
The roles of theory in canonical action research
MIS Quarterly
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Past literature recognizes the power of information technology (IT) to establish greater transparency and in turn the potential for greater control. Theoretical perspectives such as informating and agency theory describe situations whereby legitimized management authority can control goal divergence by implementing information systems to better monitor agents' behavior and outcomes. But what happens when the principal does not possess legitimacy to impose an agent's use of information and/or behavioral conformance? This study investigates this situation. Through an action research project, a physicians' profiling system (PPS) was used to monitor and benchmark physicians' clinical practices and outcomes resulting in changed practice behaviors in closer congruence with management's goals. The PPS project represents a successful attempt of a hospital's management (principal) to "informate the clan" of physicians (agents) to reduce clinical procedural costs and adopt practices benchmarked to produce better outcomes. This research moves beyond directly controlling informated workers through legitimized managerial authority to a better understanding of how to informate autonomous professionals. Emerging insights suggest that a clan can be informated if the principal can improve the perceived legitimacy of the information (the message), legitimize the technical messenger (customized user interface), legitimize the human messenger (boundary spanners and influential clan members), and facilitate an environment where clan-based discussion, using the information provided by the principal, is incorporated into the process of concertive control.