Hidden order: how adaptation builds complexity
Hidden order: how adaptation builds complexity
Empirical research in information systems: on the relevance of practice in thinking of IS research
MIS Quarterly - Special issue on intensive research in information systems
From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures
From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures
Combining IS Research Methods: Towards a Pluralist Methodology
Information Systems Research
Deploying Common Systems Globally: The Dynamics of Control
Information Systems Research
The DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success: A Ten-Year Update
Journal of Management Information Systems
Information Technology and the Changing Fabric of Organization
Organization Science
Technological Embeddedness and Organizational Change
Organization Science
The Choice of Sourcing Mechanisms for Business Processes
Information Systems Research
Trans-Situated Learning: Supporting a Network of Practice with an Information Infrastructure
Information Systems Research
Generative mechanisms for innovation in information infrastructures
Information and Organization
Information Systems Research
Research Commentary---Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda
Information Systems Research
Research Commentary---Seeking the Configurations of Digital Ecodynamics: It Takes Three to Tango
Information Systems Research
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems
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The current literature on digital infrastructure offers powerful lenses for conceptualizing the increasingly interconnected information system collectives found in contemporary organizations. However, little attention has been paid to the generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure, that is, the causal powers that explain how and why such infrastructure evolves over time. This is unfortunate, since more knowledge about what drives digital infrastructures would be highly valuable for managers and IT professionals confronted by the complexity of managing them. To this end, this paper adopts a critical realist view for developing a configurational perspective of infrastructure evolution. Our theorizing draws on a multimethod research design comprising an in-depth case study and a case survey. The in-depth case study, conducted at a Scandinavian airline, distinguishes three key mechanisms of digital infrastructure evolution: adoption, innovation, and scaling. The case survey research of 41 cases of digital infrastructure then identifies and analyzes causal paths through which configurations of these mechanisms lead to successful evolution outcomes. The study reported in this paper contributes to the infrastructure literature in two ways. First, we identify three generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure and how they contingently lead to evolution outcomes. Second, we use these mechanisms as a basis for developing a configurational perspective that advances current knowledge about why some digital infrastructures evolve successfully while others do not. In addition, the paper demonstrates and discusses the efficacy of critical realism as a philosophical tradition for developing substantive contributions in the field of information systems.