The Story of Memes: On the Origin of Interorganizational Information Systems (IOISs)

Abstract

Due to globalization, the emergence and evolution of Interorganizational Information Systems (IOIS) has increasingly gained interest among researchers and practitioners. Yet, the extant literature in organizational theory and IS does not provide much insight on why a particular IOIS project has been selected for implementation over the others or why some variations of a particular IOIS have been adopted whereas others were not. Taking into account the complex interaction between IOIS and the various social institutions and communities of practice that are involved in IOIS development, use, and regulation, we propose a theoretical approach and a set of propositions to help understand the emergence and evolution of IOIS. We conceptualize IOIS as a ComplexAdaptive System (CAS) residing in an organizational field and ideas and concepts that lead to the creation of an IOIS and its components as memes. Our IOIS theory of emergence and evolution is inspired by two complementary evolutionary perspectives from Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck.