Information technology governance: legitimation, theorization and field trends.
| Autor | de Magalhaes, Fabio Luis Falchi |
| Cargo | The evolution of research in ITG in Brazil |
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Introduction
Information technology governance (ITG) is an emerging theme that is expanding in the international academic arena, as pointed out by Khan and Wood (2015); at a national level, the topic is quite stable (Freitas, Marcolin, Becker & Martens, 2018). Incidentally, ITG is always present at the main international and national congresses, with a significant number of research groups involved (Luciano, Macadar & Wiedenhoft, 2015), as it is signaled as a strategic subject for executives worldwide (Kappelman et al., 2017).
ITG is a concept that emerged as part of corporate governance (CG) and has become a major IT issue (Van Grembergen & De Haes, 2010). It is no coincidence that the notion of "IT alignment with business", one of the ideas associated with ITG, ranks among the top five IT management concerns in the world (Kappelman, Nguyen, McLean, Maurer, Johnson, Snyder & Torres, 2017). Such situation is perceived through the existence of several practical guides for the implementation of ITG, as well as through the expansion of several empirical studies on the matter (De Haes, Van Grenbergen & Debreceny, 2013).
Given the new unified understanding between IT and business, ITG's traditional view may no longer hold true, and it is necessary to speed up and automate decision-making processes, create more agile and collaborative communities and engage with one another at a high-level strategy. As the boundaries between IT and business are drawing closer, ITG's traditional view may be outdated in today's organizations, requiring further research on the subject (De Lone, Migliorati & Vaia, 2018).
The objective of our study is to investigate and analyze the aspects related to legitimation, theorization and trends in the evolution of ITG research in Brazil according to researchers familiar with the matter.
Considering the opinion of some leading scholars in this area, our paper broadens current knowledge on ITG by identifying opportunities for improvement and by influencing policymaking, resource allocation, research agendas and other guidelines for research.
The present paper aims to answer the following research question: What are the main aspects of legitimation, theorization and trends in the evolution ofITG research in Brazil according to researchers familiar with the matter?
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Literature review
Seminal authors such as Weill and Ross (2006) state that ITG is related to decision-making responsibilities and behavioral aspects for better use of IT in organizations. ITG also focuses on the definition and implementation of relational processes, structures and mechanisms, such as attention to regulatory and compliance issues (Van Grembergen & De Haes, 2010).
Stremel (2017) states that the development of new institutional spaces occurs through a network of researchers, research groups, scientific associations, academic disciplines and curricula, journals and specific scientific events, leading to the construction of programs or lines of research. Graduate studies dedicated to a particular research topic thus legitimize a new field of research. Moreover, making history known, as well as understanding its evolution and its relationship with other disciplines that support its development, is an important role for this institutionalization (Ilott, 2016).
With the polarization of ITG concepts in administration, computing and engineering (Ilott, 2016) in an international and in the national context (Magalhaes, Ohashi, Silva, Gaspar & Cardoso, 2017), there are five areas of evaluation defined by CAPES, namely: "Engineering III", "Computer Science", "Interdisciplinary", 'Engineering IV" and, most notably "Public and Business Administration, Accounting Sciences and Tourism".
Dissemination and discussion of ITG findings related to management are usually held at events organized by the National Association of Graduate Courses in Administration (ANGRAD [1]) or the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Administration (ANPAD [2]), such as EnANGRAD and EnANPAD.
Regarding computer science, we mention the importance of the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC [3]); the most important forums are the Congress of the Brazilian Computer Society (CSBC [4]), as well as the Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems (SBSI [5]).
According to Araujo, Ralha, Graeml and Cidra (2015), SBSI differs from ANPAD events, because even though both congresses have the same research object, IT at SBSI focuses on technological aspects, while research in ANPAD is more focused on management issues and the organizational and social transformations arising from IT.
On the other hand, in CAPES'"Engineering III" evaluation area, which includes courses such as production engineering and production and systems engineering, the Brazilian Association of Production Engineering (ABEPRO [6]) brings ITG researchers together. Its main scientific event is the National Meeting of Production Engineering (EnEGEP [7]), with specific scope on ITG.
In the recently instituted "Interdisciplinary" area of knowledge, the III course is called "Engineering, Technology and Management". In this area, one finds the programs computer science, business and administration, information systems and knowledge management. Some of these programs have unique lines of research regarding ITG. The Brazilian Society of Knowledge Management (SBGC [8]) would be the closest relation to this "Interdisciplinary" axis, yet without incorporating ITG.
ISACA is the most relevant non-academic legitimizing body in the national and international scenario regarding ITG. As a global nonprofit association, ISACA has more than 140,000 professionals in 180 different countries and four chapters established in Brazil. ISACA is responsible for COBIT, which is considered one of the main good-practices ITG models (Lunardi, Dolci, Magada & Becker, 2014).
According to Luciano, Wiedenhoft & Macadar (2015), the year of 2004 marks the beginning of ITG discussions in Brazil. This was the year in which an important book by Weill and Ross (2006) was published, entitled "IT Governance", which is considered one of the main works to date on the matter. The translated version was published in Brazil two years after the official release. Meanwhile, the first studies on the topic were presented in congresses across the country, such as CONTECSI. The first national journals that approached ITG, RESI and JISTEM, also released their first editions in 2002 and 2004, respectively.
Moreover, the use of theories in scientific research is a recommendation to increase the legitimacy of the ITG area (Salvador & Joia, 2017), since analyzing the use and role of theories in a given area of knowledge is a way of understanding the genesis of this field and discussing points that can be further explored (Luciano, Macadar & Wiedenshoft, 2015). Some of the most common theories used in ITG are: contingency theory, transaction cost theory, agency theory and institutional theory (Jacobson, 2009).
Incidentally, it appears that ITG is still an incipient subject because most studies accomplished are either exploratory and/or descriptive; that is, studies focused on understanding or describing the related phenomena, rather than providing wider explanations (Luciano, Wiedenhoft & Moron, 2015; Lobler, Lehnhart, Vale & Tagliapietra, 2015). Moreover, one observes the large number of qualitative studies, especially considering case studies (single or multiple). There is a need expand specific ITG lines of research in Brazil in academic journals and conferences (Luciano, Wiedenhoft & Moron, 2015).
Recent papers developed on ITG encompass aspects related to technological and business changes, both in the local and international scenario (Luftman, Derksen, Dwivedi, Santana, Zadeh & Rigoni, 2015), as well as new IT, IT organization formats and ITG (Peppard, 2016; Pick, 2015; Tiwana & Kim, 2015). In this sense, IT is permanently intertwined with all aspects of business (Peppard, 2016; Tiwana & Kim, 2015).
By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, some trends arose: SMAC platforms (Luftman, Derksen, Dwivedi, Santana, Zadeh & Rigoni, 2015), Internet of things (IoT), intelligent agents, artificial intelligence, robotics and cybernetics, global IT, telematics, virtual worlds, bioinformatics, unplugged computing, computational thinking, digital convergence, adaptive systems, among others. Luftman, Derksen, Dwivedi, Santana, Zadeh and Rigoni (2015) also signal the top five management concerns of global executives, namely: (1) IT business alignment; (2) commercial agility; (3) reduction/control of commercial costs; (4) commercial productivity and (5) security/privacy.
Pick (2015) discusses how these technologies can directly affect ITG. This new reality also brings about some new problems regarding support, compatibility and, most importantly, information security management. ITG must adapt to the prevailing environment and organizational culture.
Tiwana and Kim (2015) agree with such statements. The authors recruited 105 companies for their study, identifying the increasingly strategic role of IT. As result, they verified that it is necessary to carry out interdepartmental knowledge transfer with ideas that come from areas other than IT itself, but which at first are apparently irrelevant to a particular task. However, the authors state that some IT decisions are no longer made by the IT unit itself. Thus, one should understand the differences between IT strategic agility and the governance of the various IT activities.
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Methods and instruments
Our study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods through an exploratory and descriptive approach. We also made use of the Delphi technique through an electronic questionnaire, which was supported by content analysis.
According to Marcial and Grumbach (2015), the application of this method helps the elaboration of a collective discourse, with the restatement of the instrument and...
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